Forgotten Bafana Bafana winger Thembinkosi Lorch is the talk of the town after firing South Africa into the Afcon 2019 quarterfinals on
Saturday night.
The Orlando Pirates star sent hosts Egypts Pharaohs crashing out of their tournament after scoring a solitary goal five minutes from time in the Cairo International Stadium to stunned the entire Egypt into denial.
Lorch hadn’t handed a minute of football at Afcon before kickoff but coach Stuart Baxter, fans and experts alike were calling for the PSL Player of the Season to be given a chance with South Africa struggling to threaten the opposition as they scraped into the last-16 clash.
The goal by Thembinkosi Lorch that silenced the whole of Egypt #AFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/5gmiQDiu8T
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) July 6, 2019
And the former Cape Town All Stars man showed the boss just what he has been missing, adding pace, skill and unpredictability to SA’s attack.
From the first whistle, Lorch was oppit, driving at the Egyptian defence, linking up with Percy Tau and being a menace as Bafana hurt Mo Salah and company.
BROKEN MAN: Egypt's Mohamed Salah, left. Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters.
Tau went close with a free kick in the first half, but was denied Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy.
STUNNER: Bafana Bafana celebrate their big victory. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
But while South Africa made chances at will and shot on sight, especially in the first half, Bafana were still wayward.
And they would have been in trouble if Mahmoud Trezeguet was more lethal when he was afforded two one-on-one situations, but his weak efforts were dealt with by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
Lorch, though, proved that he could add the final touch and be the difference for this Bafana team when he coolly slotted home the ball to win the match.
STATS | Check out the full-time stats! Which team had the better overall performance? #TotalAFCON2019 #EGYRSA pic.twitter.com/RJvLnxtsxu
— CAF (@CAF_Online) July 6, 2019
After another dangerous attack by SA’s front three, Lebo Mothiba rolled his cross from the right to Lorch breaking through the middle and the Bucs man sent the hosts packing.