YOUNG BUCS

A BIG YEAR AHEAD FOR MOTUPA & MASUKU

It was a case of baptism by fire for Orlando Pirates midfielder Gift Motupa, whose first match for the Buccaneers was the crunch second leg CAF Confederation Cup semi-final against Etoile du Sahel.

PIRATES lost that match 1-0, and 2-1 on aggregate, but for 21-year-old Motupa, it is a moment he will cherish for the rest of his career. “When I signed for Pirates, I didn’t think that I was going to start my first match in a cup final,” Motupa says. “We lost, but it was a great experience. There’s not too much time to think on the ball in CAF matches, but I was not intimidated. At the end I was happy with how I played.” Immediately after the match in Tunisia, Motupa and teammate Menzi Masuku jetted to Senegal to join the South African Under-23 side at the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations. The duo landed in Dakar just hours before Amaglugglug’s must-win match against Zambia – three days earlier Owen da Gama’s side had lost 3-1 against the host nation. And the Pirates duo shone, providing three goals between them in a 3-1 win – Masuku netted the opener, while Motupa netted a brace. “It was difficult travelling to Senegal having lost a cup final,” Motupa says. “But qualifying for the Olympics is also important. We arrived on Tuesday morning and played at 15h00. When we arrived we could see the morale was down after the opening loss, but we won and went on to qualify for the Olympics.”

Motupa’s road to the top flight started in his home province of Limpopo, with local team Manchester United. He then joined Second Division side Baroka FC while in high school and got a taste of professional football when they reached the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup, beating Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows along the way. “Playing for Baroka in the Nedbank Cup was a dream come true. We didn’t believe we could beat Chiefs, but we did believe we could beat Swallows. After that I had a belief that one day I would play professional football and that I would get offers,” he says. “And then I received an offer from Orlando Pirates. There were also offers from University of Pretoria and Mamelodi Sundowns, but I chose Pirates as I grew up supporting them.” After returning from the Under-23 Nations Cup, Motupa started against Sundowns and AmaTuks, although since then he’s come on four times off the bench, and has yet to contribute a goal or assist. He remains optimistic that Pirates can still rescue their poor domestic season. “We are trying to get consistent results, but we miss chances and opponents score against us. We don’t capitalise, but it’s something we must work on.”