Morena outlines Bafana goals

Thaphelo Morena is dreaming of a big season with his club Mamelodi Sundowns and the national soccer team, Bafana Bafana.

And that dream may be realised sooner than the wingback had expected as he started to show what he was made of when he featured for Bafana in their Nelson Mandela Challenge game against Mali in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.

Morena is currently one of the most consistent players in the Absa Premiership and when he was offered the opportunity with Molefi Ntseki-coached Bafana, he did not disappoint. After the game, Morena told Independent Media about his goals in life and target on the field of play. “We all (at Sundowns) have one vision and that is to win all the trophies that are on offer. That is our target,” Morena stated.

“We also want to go all the way in the Caf Champions League. We know that it is not going to be easy but it is possible.”

The Brazilians are in the group stage of the Caf Champions League where they are pitted against their bogey club Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, USM Alger from Algeria and Angola’s Petro de Luanda.

Sundowns are searching for a second continental star following their heroic performance in 2016 when they captured Africa’s premium club competition title.

Since that achievement, the defending Premiership champions have been favourites to win everything domestically, and the Champions League.

On Sunday they open their Telkom Knockout campaign against AmaZulu at Lucas Moripe Stadium and are tipped as contenders in this competition as well.

Sundowns are third on the PSL log with 14 points after six games and trail Kaizer Chiefs by five points with two games in hand.

So the dream of sweeping all the silverware on offer is still on for Morena. “What will also make me happy is to help Bafana qualify for the Afcon and the World Cup,” he said. “If I can manage to achieve that, then I will be happy.”

Bafana will commence their journey to Cameroon with back-to-back matches next month. They will visit Ghana and square off against Sudan at home. The two games are qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021.

“I want to keep learning so that I can improve my game. Playing for Bafana will help me to be a better player,” Morena explained.

“I know that I have to keep on working hard so that I’ll be able to get these Bafana call-ups on a consistent basis.”

The World Cup qualifiers will start next year as countries from different continents battle it out for a place in Qatar in 2022.