Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Teboho Mokoena has, for the first time, spoken about what he endured due to his Bafana Bafana yellow card controversy in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The 28-year-old was the eye of a storm which saw South Africa almost miss out on a place at the quadrennial global football showpiece. It all started when the Free State-born star featured in the match against Lesotho in March despite being ineligible to play that World Cup qualifierr game after collecting two yellow cards.
Bafana team manager, Vincent Tseka, SAFA and the player himself failed to pick up that he was suspended. It was a blunder which attracted sanctions from world football governing body FIFA who came down hard on South Africa by docking three points off them. That left Hugo Broos’ men at risk of failing to qualify for the World Cup.
The points deduction dropped Bafana to second place in Group C, meaning they entered the final day of qualifiers still needing to secure their spot.
It then needed Nigeria to beat then-log leaders Benin for the 1996 African champions to reclaim top spot, also thanks to partly favouring themselves by beating Rwanda 3-0 on Tuesday in Mbombela.
Mokwena recounted how he was made the scapegoat for the national side’s chaos and how the ordeal maliciously involved his family.
MOKWENA ADMITS: ‘I WAS GOING THROUGH A LOT’ AS BAFANA WERE ON THE EDGE
“I’m very happy [to qualify for the World Cup]. It was an emotional day [Tuesday], I could feel it [that Bafana would beat Rwanda],” said Mokoena in a chat with artist Arthur Mafokate.
“I think we must give credit to the coach [Hugo Broos]. He has been so calm the whole week after we drew against Zimbabwe [on Friday]. And honestly, it has been the toughest six months of my career.
“The backlash I received and my family was very hard. Yes, because of the yellow cards [people were blaming me] and I couldn’t speak about it. I was going through a lot, I was not okay but I’m happy now.”
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