CAPE TOWN – There’s always great expectation and anticipation ahead of the start of a new Premier Soccer League (PSL) season. Who will win the title? Who will be relegated? And, importantly, which player will have the most impact?
For the latter question, there’s no doubt that young SuperSport United midfielder Teboho Mokoena is a player on the rise.
The 22-year-old was brilliant last season and subsequently won the Pretoria club’s Players’ Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season awards.
Already there has been some interest from overseas clubs for the talented 22-year-old, although, as yet, nothing concrete has happened.
Mokoena will, therefore, continue his career at SuperSport in the interim – and coach Kaitano Tembo is certainly happy to have one of his best players available.
“Teboho has been tremendous, especially with all the talk about a possible transfer, and all the media speculation in that regard,” said Tembo.
“But I’m happy that he is really focused. He has been a model professional and I know he’s going to have a really good season because he’s had a good pre-season as well.”
SuperSport open the 2019-2020 PSL season with a tough Pretoria derby against neighbours and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Saturday afternoon.
Tembo will be looking for big performances from Mokoena as well as last season’s other stand-out performer, goalkeeper Ronwen Williams
Williams played every single match for Matsatsantsa in the last campaign, performing admirably, and was named as the club’s Player of the Season. He was also good for Bafana Bafana during the recently-completed 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
“The team is in good shape,” said Tembo. “We’ve avoided any major injuries and we hope that we’ll continue through the season injury-free.
“Last season, we started well, but then had four of our top players out because of injuries. Our rhythm was compromised, we had to start again and find new combinations. I think it will be a little bit different this season – we’ll have a good start this time around.”
Tembo said SuperSport would, as usual, be competitive during the season.
“If we look back on last season, up until the last four games, we were mathematically in the title race. We are always in the mix of the teams who want to win the league. But it is key for us to have a good start.”