Clever Boys have learnt their lesson
EFU Mashamaite and Calvin Kadi’s career paths will cross once again this evening, as Kaizer Chiefs and Bidvest Wits do battle in the Telkom Knockout last 16.
Mashamaite was Kadi’s captain at the Students, before the latter left for Portuguese side Portimonense in July 2010. Mashamaite joined the Amakhosi at the start of last season, and after a difficult opening campaign, is forging a permanent place in the heart of the back four, his lion-heart attitude admired by coach Stuart Baxter.
Kadi, meanwhile, ended his European travels this season, moving back to Wits after a successful spell in the Greek second division, with Veria FC. The striker finished with 17 league goals, helping his team to promotion to the Greek top flight.
Kadi has two league goals already this season, and has no regrets about deciding to return to South Africa. “It has been great,” he said. “When things go well at work you are always going to be happy. I believe coming back home was the best decision.
“…The standard of the league has gone up, you always find players from Europe wanting to come this side. This is my home and I have always loved playing here.”
Kadi remembers his time playing with Mashamaite.“He was my
Tcaptain back then and I had a great relationship with him,” he said.“We have kind of lost contact but we know each other from way back, and whenever we come across each other on a field of play we always greet.”
The two have already met once this season, in an Premiership game in Nelspruit on September 24. One could say honours between them are even, as Chiefs won the game 3-1, but Kadi netted his first goal in his new spell at Wits.
“Sometimes you ask yourself when the first goal is coming and once it comes it is a massive feeling,” said Kadi on breaking his duck.
Wits have also improved since that defeat to Chiefs, winning their last two league games 1-0, with Kadi also netting in the victory at Maritzburg United.
“It [the Chiefs game] was a game where if you make mistakes, you get punished,” said Kadi.
“When you play teams like Chiefs, if you are not 100 percent concentrated, they will punish you. I believe this time we will have a different approach, though they [Chiefs] are also doing extremely well. They are playing fantastic football, with nice transitions and you can see they are ambitions.
“But the Telkom Knockout is a different ball game. The most important thing is to go out and give the supporters a nice game.”
Mashamaite has little doubt that Wits will have done their best to learn their lessons from September 24. “Obviously they are going to look at the video,” he said.
“They have a very experienced coach [Antonio Lopez Habas], he knows what he wants from them … I think they will analyse the game in Mbombela and will be looking to surprise us.”
Wits have taken the Telkom Knockout game to Bidvest Stadium, with Chiefs assistant coach Doctor Khumalo this week suggesting they prefer a more compact field.
But Kadi does not see any advantage to playing at their more usual home. “At the end of the day there are 11 players on the field, so it is just a matter of who takes their chances,” he said.
If Kadi and Mashamaite continue to impress, of course, there is a chance they might be joined together again in the same team, in terms of Gordon Igesund’s Bafana Bafana.