Striker Mphela goes in search of goals

JOHANNESBURG - Striker Katlego Mphela is confident he can help the struggling Bafana Bafana attack when they play their second match of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) against Angola on Wednesday.

Monday, January 21, 2013
Katlego Mphela.

JOHANNESBURG - Striker Katlego Mphela is confident he can help the struggling Bafana Bafana attack when they play their second match of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) against Angola on Wednesday.The hosts opened the tournament with a lacklustre goalless draw against Cape Verde Islands on Saturday and have received plenty of criticism in the aftermath. It was the third consecutive match they failed to score following a 1-0 friendly loss to Norway and another 0-0 stalemate against Algeria earlier in January."I think we have quality strikers here,” Mphela said in Durban on Monday. "Statistically you know I’ve played in these tournaments before and I’m the most experienced striker in this team, so I think I can be the difference.”The 28-year-old, who won his 50th cap on Saturday and has scored over 20 goals for Bafana Bafana, believed it was his responsibility, as a forward, to break their goal-scoring drought. "Now that the Afcon is here, and we obviously didn’t play well in our first game, we want to do well in our second one,” he said. "Hopefully I’ll get some goals for the team to get through to the next round.”Mphela, slowly nursing his way back from six months on the sidelines due to a knee injury, had a 22-minute run out against Cape Verde, but made little impact, along with most of his teammates, who had frozen under pressure, according to coach Gordon Igesund.