Mokoena withdrawn from Bafana squad, replaced by SuperSport colleague Morton

Bafana Bafana will be without midfielder Teboho Mokoena when they host Botswana in a 2018 African Nations Championship second leg qualifier at Moruleng Stadium in Rustenburg on Saturday.

Mokoena's club‚ Supersport United‚ have withdrawn the player from the Bafana squad and his place has been taken by his teammate Michael Morton‚ who has already reported for national team duty.

Though he will not be part of the action on Saturday‚ Mokoena has asked his team-mates to tread very carefully against the Zebras and defend their 2-0 lead from the first leg in Botswana.

“Yes‚ the lead is an advantage but it doesn’t mean much‚" he said.

"If we were able to score two goals away (from home)‚ then it certainly means they can do the same.

"We have to treat this as a new ball game where the score is 0-0. "We have to work hard and ensure that we win this game so as to proceed to the next round.

“We should have the same mentality as we had in the first leg so we can win again. We need to defend well‚ keep a clean sheet and that will help us proceed further in the qualifiers.”

Looking back at their 2-0 win away from home‚ Mokoena said they played according to the coach’s plan and they wanted the result more than Botswana.

“The match went according to plan‚ just the way we wanted it.

"We worked very hard to get the positive result and that is a positive when they come to us in South Africa for the second leg.

"It was a tough match but we were able to manage it very well by following the coach’s instructions and that’s how we were victorious‚” he added Mokoena.

- TimesLIVE