Bafana Bafana's Cassius Mailula has been handed a glimmer of hope as the young striker looked lively when he made his first appearance of the season for Toronto FC.
The diminutive attacker was brought on with 11 minutes to play as Toronto suffered a 4-0 beating from Vancouver Whitecaps thanks to goals from Brian White, Ryan Gauld, Ranko Vaselinovic and Fafa Pacault.
READ | Mailula's coach: He will have to wait until...
Mailula, though, looked lively when he came on and very nearly got his name on the scoresheet having made a good run to come one-on-one against the goalkeeper, only to see his shot excruciatingly saved.
It was a first appearance for the 22-year-old who, for the past seven matches, had been an unused substitute, settling for a place on the bench and perhaps a signal of what was to come.
??????????????'?? ????????????
— Sahil Ebrahim (@sahil_e_) April 7, 2024
Cassius Mailula had a golden chance to get his name in the MLS record books & also perhaps secure a starting spot in the next game, but the chance went abegging.??
Mailula had been sidelined by the manager, Herdman since the start of the season.???? pic.twitter.com/cUFsz8aKFj
Mailula has received plenty of criticism over the switch to the MLS, and more particularly, a team with experienced strikers seemingly ahead of the South African in the pecking order.
Subsequently, the stocky attacker missed a chance to be part of Bafana Bafana's squad that returned with a Bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in February. National team head coach Hugo Broos has been vocal of his disapproval of Mailula's move to Toronto.
"You transfer a player with 16 PSL games [for Sundowns in 2022-23] in his legs to Toronto, who have two Italian internationals like Insigne and Bernardeschi, and Canadian international Kerr. He doesn’t have much chance to play," Broos said before the AFCON.
ALSO READ | 'Everything is top' - Mailula impresses during first week with new club
Mailula completed a surprise move to the MLS outfit towards the end of July 2023.
The move came on the back of a phenomenal debut season for the striker in which he scored 15 goals and provided four assists in 35 appearances for the Brazilians.
Furthermore, he was awarded the DStv Premiership's Young Player of the Season accolade.
The former Sundowns striker will hope to get another chance when Toronto take on Charlotte on Wednesday.
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
Click HERE to register!
