Surprise Mohlomolleng Moriri (born 20 March 1980 in Matibidi,

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

) is a South African former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who used to play as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or striker. He has also represented

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

internationally and has amassed 34 caps since his debut in 2003.

Club career

Moriri is a free-scoring midfielder who was chosen as South Africa's

PSL Player of the Season The PSL Player of the Season in South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic O ...

in 2005–06. He usually plays as a second striker or behind the striker as a supporting striker. He can also be deployed on the right side of midfield. He scored 12 goals in all competitions (11 in the league) to be Sundowns' top scorer and help the 'Brazilians' to their first league title since 2000. In the 2006–07 season he eclipsed that amount, with again 11 league goals and three in the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

. The 2007–08 season saw him less prolific in the league only managing three league goals but in the process scoring two

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of givi ...

goals, one

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. T ...

goal, one Tekom Knockout goal and four CAF Champions League, giving him a total of 11 goals. On 18 June 2007, Sundowns played a friendly against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in South Africa. Moriri scored within one minute and 30 seconds to make it 1–0. After many missed chances from both teams, Barcelona eventually went on to win the game 2–1 after two late goals from substitutes

Santiago Ezquerro Santiago 'Santi' Ezquerro Marín (born 14 December 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Having made a name for himself at Athletic Bilbao, appearing in nearly 300 official games for the club in seven yea ...

and Marc Crosas Luque.

International career

Moriri made his debut in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

on 8 October 2003. He scored his first goal for

in their 3–0 win over Chad in the MTN Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. He was in the South African squad for the

2008 African Nations Cup The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confede ...

. He was part of the Bafana Bafana squad for the 2010 World Cup, coming off the bench against Uruguay.

International goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriri, Surprise 1980 births Living people South African soccer players Association football midfielders Association football forwards South Africa international soccer players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Platinum Stars F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players 2010 FIFA World Cup players People from Thaba Chweu Local Municipality