In the build-up to the Olympics, soccer writer NJABULO NGIDI profiles the players who will represent South Africa in Rio and MATSHELANE MAMABOLO reminisces on a member of the Class of 2000 who played in the same position.
Today they look at Gift Motupa and Siyabonga Nomvethe
Johannesburg - An Olympics medal, literally and figuratively, would weigh more than any medal Gift Motupa has ever won in his career. And there have been plenty of them because of his talent that saw him play with the big boys as early as 14 years of age.
But those medals came under threat when he quit football upon starting high school. His teacher and coach at Thogwaneng Primary, Moshibudi Mabitsela - with whom he won most of those medals - wasn’t impressed with that stunt.
He went to Motupa’s house and gave him an ultimatum… return the medals or get back to playing football. Motupa came back from his “retirement” so that he can keep his medals and win more. Baroka FC gave him the foundation to achieve that when he was signed by the clubthey signed him as a 14-year-old.
Their chairman Khurishi Mphahlele predicted that he would one day captain Bakgaga and the 21-year-old did that just before he joined Orlando Pirates last year. The Buccaneers became the launch pad for him to win more medals. Most of those honours have come with the national Under-23 team which he helped qualify for the Olympics.
He did that right after receiving a silver medal with Pirates in the final of the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup in Tunisia, where they went down to Etoile du Sahel. Motupa and his Under-23 teammates might have won bronze at the Eight Nations tournament in Senegal, but it was worth gold as their third-place finish booked them a place in the Olympics.
Before they went to Brazil, they used the Cosafa Cup as preparation for the global showpiece. Motupa once again played a starring role up front and he once again returned home with a medal… a gold one this time around. His two penalties in the final helped the side made up of Under-23 players beat Botswana’s senior national team.
That win gave Motupa and Co confidence for Rio. He desperately needed the boost, Motupa having spent most of his time with the Buccaneers on the sidelines. But he is a different player when he is with the Under-23s.
Even though his preferred position is play-maker, he is their main man up front because of his power to play as a target man and skill to play as a second striker when needed.
He is a source of inspiration, with the six goals he has scored for the team in less than a year coming in crucial moments.
Having fought hard to keep the medals he won as a primary school pupil, then adding more of them as a professional, he will definitely put in a strong fight to return from Brazil with another gong.
Bhele, a true SA legend
IT SAYS a lot about Siyabonga Nomvethe that he is the only one from the Class of 2000 who is still actively playing. And the reason is fairly simple; Bhele is a true professional and has always been.
That he is still going on - he plays for AmaZulu in the National First Division (NFD) - is because he has not only taken care of himself but he has respected the game as well. Back in late 1997 when he first joined the National Under-23 side, he was quick to establish himself as a key player in a group that had generally been together since 1995.
Such was his strike-rate that he was the squad’s top scorer with 12 goals from 22 appearances before the Olympics Games. And so it was that when Amaglug-glug headed Down Under, expectations were that the then Kaizer Chiefs striker would take Australia by storm and have international scouts chasing after his signature.
Already there had been enquiries from a couple of European clubs, with Sunderland and Borussia Monchengladbach having expressed interest. And Nomvethe duly delivered as he scored two headed goals at the tournament - the most by any of the squad members. Yet while he found the net, Bhele was a bit subdued.
Those scintillating runs and quick turns of his that had left many a PSL defender sprawled on the pitch and the deadly finishing that had sent opposition goalkeepers scooping the ball from inside the net were conspicuous by their absence.
Still, his career continued to blossom as he went on to continue starring for Bafana Bafana whom he had started playing for while still with Amaglug-glug.
He went on to play at the 2002 World Cup where he scored the goal that gave South Africa their only win, over Slovenia, at the global showpiece in three appearances.
A long career in Europe confirmed he is one of the country’s top strikers while the fact that he is among the few players to have starred for all three Soweto giants - Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows - makes Nomvethe a true legend of the South African game.
The Star