Bafana Bafana defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi has opened up on scoring his first goal for South Africa.

Mbokazi played the full 90 minutes in South Africa’s 2-1 defeat against Panama at the DHL Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Chicago Fire defender netted his first goal for Bafana in great fashion, scoring a screamer from outside the box to find the back of the net.

Mbokazi has broken his silence on scoring his first national team goal, stating that he does not practise long-range shots during training.

“I do take shots even at training, but I cannot really say I practice them. If the opportunity allows, I take a shot at the goal,” Mbokazi told SABC Sport.

“I am happy to be around the players that I am used to playing with and have not played with for a long time, who encourage me to keep on working hard because it will give me a chance to continue to play with them.

“We played well, and the loss doesn’t mean we played badly. We will still continue to push because this result will push to not want to find ourselves in this position in the games that are coming.

“The experience that I gained from that side in the games that I have played, maybe if I can bring that to the national team when we go to the World Cup, I will be able to help. Even though I cannot point to anything in particular, it will show that I have learnt something abroad,” he concluded.