In 2019, attacking midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch was walking on water, voted Players' Player of the Year by his peers and then Footballer of the Season by the Premier Soccer League's topflight coaches.
These accolades put pressure on Stuart Baxter, then Bafana Bafana's. coach, to include Lorch in his Africa Cup of Nations squad to Egypt, and when the Englishman ignored the player in all three group stage matches, the criticism that came finally forced his hand.
Baxter, thinking he may be throwing Lorch in at the deep end, named the Orlando Pirates talisman in his starting line-up for the national team's roundof-16 clash against the hosts in one of the biggest games of the tournament.
And that produced a fairy-tale ending ... a Lorch winner five minutes before the referee blew for full time propelled. South Africa to the quarter-finals of the continental competition.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of Soccer Club.
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of Soccer Club.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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