For the first time since they hosted the tournament in 2010, South Africa are back at the FIFA World Cup™. Forward Lyle Foster was just a nine-year-old child the last time his nation featured at the global showpiece but he has vivid memories of Bafana Bafana’s involvement. He is also fully aware of the significance of their return, including their first game, against Mexico, which is a repeat of the 2010 opener.
“It’s been a long time,” Foster told FIFA. “I think the first fixture speaks for itself, and I think that’s just the first step on our journey.”
Foster grew up in the 12,000-person township of Noordgesig in Soweto, where he says his fondest memories are of playing football.
“All my earliest memories are of playing in the street,” said Foster. “That was probably the way we grew up and the way we learned football. I think that was the thing that brought us boys in the community together.”
He enjoyed the competitive and social aspects of football. He also connected with his father—whom he calls his biggest influence—through the beautiful game.
“He played football, so when I was young, he used to take me to games and whatnot,” said Foster. “That was the biggest influence on me, because I wanted to be just like him!”
The 2010 World Cup was a formative moment for the Rainbow Nation and for a young Foster. He recalls watching the opening game alongside his entire family at his grandmother’s house. Siphiwe Tshabalala’s opening goal remains a moment etched in his memory.
“I can still see it now. I can still feel it now. Just pure elation, pure joy,” recalled Foster. “You could hear the whole country screaming, your neighbours and everyone. I think I could hear the people from Cape Town and I was in Joburg. I think that’s how loud and how happy everyone was.”
Since then, he has dreamed of representing his country at the World Cup, and that tournament made it feel all the more possible.
“I’ve always wanted to represent my country on the biggest stage, and I think seeing people you look up to, role models playing in that tournament, I don’t know, just created that belief within us, and made us believe it was possible,” he said.
With South Africa set to play co-hosts Mexico in the opening fixture, there is a sense of things coming full circle for South Africa and for Foster personally.
“You can’t write those types of things, you know, you can’t script it like this,” Foster said about South Africa once again taking on Mexico in a World Cup opener.
Foster hopes to deliver in the tournament not only for his country but for his parents and himself. He acknowledges that his parents made many sacrifices to ensure he had the equipment and food necessary to train as a child.
Despite the nerves he admits he will feel when stepping out onto the pitch at Mexico City Stadium, he is looking to repay his parents and enjoy himself.
“God willing, after so much fight and so much sacrifice, this will be a moment to not just show the world who I am, but also just to enjoy it and appreciate the moment of how far we’ve come,” said Foster.
Foster is convinced that South Africa has fully earned their right to be at the tournament in North America.
“I think we’ve shown over the last few years that we’ve been able to qualify for two AFCONs,” he said. “Finishing third and going on to the knock-out stages of the last one, I think we’ve also established ourselves as a team that I think is one to be reckoned with in Africa. So, yeah we deserve to be going t the World Cup, I think we’ve been doing well and the squad depth we have…I think that’s helping us a lot.”
And he isn’t coy about what his dream scenario is for this World Cup. “To win. To win the first game, to win the second game, to win every game we play, to be honest…but we’ll have to take it one game at a time.”
