FIRST IMPRESSION
Ace Khuse is credited as being the man who brought Ekstein to Kaizer Chiefs, as the former Amakhosi reserve team coach reveals his first interactions with the talented midfielder. “Our season had just ended and we felt we needed to play some friendly matches, so we arranged to go and play against Ekstein’s team on the mines,” Khuse explains. “I had actually initially seen him playing at some tournament in Mohlakeng where I come from and though I took a liking to his way of playing, I didn’t follow up on him until we saw him again in that friendly game. After he impressed us, we arranged for another game against the same team to see him again. In that second game he still performed the same way and displayed attributes of being a great player, so we took him right away.” It didn’t take long for Ekstein to impress the senior hierarchy at Naturena. “When we got him to Chiefs, we then invited chairman Kaizer Motaung to watch him at the Nike Centre during the Discovery Tournament. The chairman liked him right away and that is why he was then promoted to the first team. There was no need to continue wasting time on him because we had already seen the talent that he had. I am glad we found such a talented player like him in the mines where he could have been easily wasted.” Khuse, now a juniors’ scout at Chiefs, still highly rates Ekstein, and hopes he can reach his full potential. “I actually think Chiefs took too long to promote him to the first team,” Khuse says. “He is a special player. The challenge facing him now is how to avoid falling into the comfort zone that comes from being popular. This will mean being disciplined and making sacrifices for the sake of his game.”