Mkhwanazi makes winning debut at Kruger United
Likuena defender Motlomelo Mkhwanazi made his debut for Kruger United in the Motsepe Championship on Sunday as they registered a 3-2 victory over University of Pretoria.
The 30-year-old defender has returned to South Africa after penning a one and half-year contract with the Mpumalanga based outfit after parting ways with BDF of Botswana.
He was issued with a work permit last week to finally make his debut for United, where he has reunited with former Bantu FC coach and teammate in Abraham Mongoya and Moloisane Ramasimong respectively.
Mkhwanazi is not new to South African football having previously played for now defunct Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila for a season.
The Lesotho international, who scored Likuena’s first goal in the ongoing 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in a one-all draw against Nigeria in Uyo, admitted that his side had to dig deep to win the match playing with a man down in the second half.
“It was a tough match based on the fact that Amatuks are always a very competitive side, and I think we were the better team especially in the first half,” Mkhwanazi said.
“Unfortunately, we had a red card in the second half which I think worked against us as they had a one-man advantage, but we still managed to win the game.”
The no-nonsense defender stated that having his former Bantu coach and teammate at his new club made life easy for him to settle down quickly at his new home.
“It helped me a lot arriving at a new club and finding familiar faces who know what I’m capable of and what I can contribute to help the team,” the Likuena defender added.
“You always have a lot to prove when you arrive at a new club and I could see that some of my teammates don’t believe in my abilities, but I was assigned to mark Thamsanqa Gabuza, which I think I did perfectly.
“Now I can see that I have earned the trust of my new teammates, and they came to congratulate me after doing the work on Gabuza, whom they feel is always a threat especially in the air, but I went pound to pound with him on Sunday as we registered a win,” he said.
