COACH IN THE MAKING

Mpho Maruping has not been teammates with Paulus Masehe for long, but he has already been able to see how much the veteran midfielder loves his job and gives his all for Free State Stars. The former Bloemfontein Celtic midfielder has been impressed with how his 35-year-old captain acts as though he is an 18-year-old who just secured his first professional contract. “Since I got here I found that he is a dedicated person,” Maruping says. “You would swear he is 18 or just got his contract yesterday by the way he works. He plays the exact same way he trains. He has been injured, but he has been working so hard during rehab. Anyone can look up to him because he works very hard.” Having spent a large portion of the first half of the season nursing a knee injury, Maruping says Masehe’s absence on the pitch has really been felt. “You can see we need him because he is vocal on the pitch,” Maruping says. “At times he does not speak, but by his actions you can see what he wants on the pitch. He likes to joke around and even the youngsters like him a lot. We enjoy his presence and it’s a privilege to play with such a guy.” Maruping believes Masehe has what it takes to become a successful coach in future. “Masehe has those qualities to be a coach because he can identify when there’s a problem,” he says. “You can see the way he reads the game and analyses it. When we are on the pitch, he can come up with a solution and that’s part of being a coach. I am sure he will be a great coach in the future because of what I have seen at training and on the pitch. You can see the quality that’s there. He also helps the coaches while we are training, so I feel he will be a good coach.”