Riveiro praises Pirates’ ‘new kids on the block’ after Bafana call-ups

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has described new Bafana Bafana call-ups Relebohile Mofokeng and Patrick Maswanganyi as two players any football supporter would love to see on the field of play.

Bafana head coach Hugo Broos on Thursday named both Maswanganyi and Mofokeng in his final Bafana squad for next month’s Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

“Maswanganyi and Mofokenbg are new kids on the block and have made an impact this season,” said Riveiro.

“We are talking about two players that whichever team you support, I think you like to see them playing football. I don’t think anyone is surprised they are in the national team and hopefully they have an opportunity to be themselves and make us all proud.”

Mofokeng is just 19 years old, and is only likely to come under more scrutiny now that he is with Bafana. But Riveiro seemed unconcerned at how the Pirates attacking prodigy will cope with the pressure.

‘He just wants to play football’

“Rele is exceptionally smart, I don’t think it will be extra anything,” said Riveiro.

“He just wants to play football, and that is what he must do. Everything else will be a consequence of his performance. He knows the road, if you are moving up the road, you will have more expectations, you will get more attention from your opponents, more people will be talking about you … so you need to show you can overcome these obstacles.”

Before heading off on international duty, Maswanganyi and Mofokeng are both likely to feature for Pirates on Saturday when they go up against Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final at Mbombela Stadium.

The match represents an opportunity for Pirates to win a fourth knockout trophy in two seasons, having also won the last two MTN8s, as well as last season’s Nedbank Cup.