FRESH START
Bongani Zungu was a sensation at Vitoria Guimaraes in the last six months, months but before his arrival in Portugal there was another South African midfielder making great strides at the club until injury stunted his progress. Thibang Phete, who goes by
Bongani Zungu doesn’t have to think long in his assessment of compatriot Thibang “Cafu” Phete at Vitoria Guimaraes. “He’s Bafana Bafana material, definitely,” Zungu says. Not many South Africans would have seen Phete in action. A product of Farouk Khan’s Stars of Africa Academy, he spent part of the 2013/14 season at National First Division side Milano United. A move to the third-tier in Portugal in 2014, and a remarkable stroke of good fortune thereafter, has shaped his career since. The 23-year-old was raised in Galeshewe near Kimberley in the Northern Cape, and says boredom is his younger years saw him start kicking a ball. “I would be locked up at home, there was nothing really else to do around home,” he tells KICK OFF from Portugal. “So I just started kicking a ball about on my own and found I had a real passion for it. It became something I did in every spare moment.” The youngster then started playing for local ABC Motsepe League club Real Madrid, who played in the Nedbank Cup in 2009 and 2011. “There was a coach in our area who was also a scout and he recommended me to Farouk Khan. I was only 14 years old, so the thought of moving to Joburg was a big deal. But I spoke to my family and we decided to go for it. “In Kimberley there is no professional team, so what are the prospects for young players from there? If I wanted to be a [professional] player, I had to go to an academy somewhere and Stars of Africa is among the best.” NFD club Milano showed an interest in taking him for the second half of the 2013/14 season, and with the encouragement of Khan to go get first team experience, he made another move, this time to the Mother City. “It was only ever going to be for six months, but it was an opportunity to go and be a professional player, so I took it. They actually played me as a right-back, which I had only previously played as a junior,” he says. “I was a centre-back, but after a few years in the academy, Farouk moved me to midfield. So right-back was something new, but a good learning experience.” The plan was always to take Phete
overseas and at the end of that campaign, he joined Portuguese third-tier side Tourizense along with compatriots Tlotlo Leepile, Pule Maraisane, Tshepo Matsemela and Thamsanqa Ngobeza. It is fair to say that Cafu has so far been the pick of that quintet, with Matsemela now at Polokwane City and Maraisane at Mthatha Bucks. “The fact that we were all together made it very easy to settle. There were PSL clubs that wanted to sign me, but I wanted to go to Europe. That has always been my dream. “And Farouk agreed. It would have been easy for him to take me to a PSL team, but he knew what my ambition was. He backed me.” Phete then became a regular, but saw his progress halted by injury. It was during one of these spells that his fortunes changed again. “We were playing in a friendly against the B side of Vitoria Guimaraes,” he recalls. “I was injured, but I had still taken my boots to the game. I then put them on and went to do some light jogging on the side of the pitch. “My coach saw this, called me over and asked if I felt okay to go on. I jumped at the chance. Vitoria saw me in that game and signed me for the next season.” Phete arrived at Vitoria in July 2015 and started in the B team, but within a few months made his Portuguese Primeira League debut against Boavista in November. In his first season he played in a famous 1-0 win over FC Porto, making 11 first team appearances in total, and a further 12 for the B side. “I did not expect to break into the team so quickly, but the opportunity came and I had to grab it. I settled in quickly and by the end of the season I was playing every game.” He would have hoped to kick on, but the 2016/17 season was a tale of one injury after the next as he battled with a re-occurring ankle problem that required surgery. “I was in and out of the side, fit then not fit – it was very frustrating. To be honest it was a season to forget. I am only looking forward now,” he says. Phete, who has a contract Vitoria until June 2019, is a box-to-box style midfielder who is as important to the team on defence as he is on attack. “I used to love [former Chelsea and Germany midfielder] Michael Ballack – that is who I have styled my game on. But I would say my strong point is defending; those years as a centreback taught me to love it. I am more a number six than a number eight.” Phete says he will “definitely” be fit for the new campaign, when he will come into competition for a place in the side with his great friend Zungu, unless the latter makes a move to pastures new. “I am always with Bongani, he is really good company,” he says. “I am not surprised with how well he has done. When I heard he was coming, I knew he would do well. He has really taken his chance.” Like Zungu, Phete sees Vitoria as a stepping stone to bigger things. “We all know that Portugal is not the place to settle in Europe; it is a launchpad to bigger things. I want to get fit again, work hard and next season show what my game is about. Hopefully that brings a move to a bigger club or league. I know I can do it.”