Mateo goes pro
At 19 years of age, former Maritzburg College football captain, Mateo Horstead has joined his first professional football team, AmaZulu. He has since been working hard and settling in.
His love for football began at the age of five. From this discovery, Horstead explained that his cousin, Conal Cone, who at the time played for Pietermaritzburg’s Golden Arrows, guided him onto the path he is on now.
“I've loved the game since I was five and now I aim to become a professional football player,” he said.
Since then, he has been a part of Savages Football Club and represented his province at age 13 before gaining the attention of Maritzburg College and now AmaZulu.However, the jump between school and professional sport is noticeable, he said.
“The intensity is much higher and the boys are more focused,” Horstead said. “Thankfully, my coach who was also a professional football player prepared me for it in the last couple of months.”
His long-term goal, which he shared, is to play in the England Premier League as a Liverpool player.
AmaZulu Youth Development Coach Andile ‘Sguda’ Cele said he first watched Mateo when he went to watch his nephew play.
"He was also a matric and in College’s team,” he recalled.
"I thought, for a white guy, he plays well.”
Cele explained that Mateo had many aspects that caught his eye from that first game to now in his training.
“Football is not just kicking a ball. It’s also what you do before you touch it,” said Cele. “With Mateo, you can see how his head moves around, how he observes everyone. He invests his time before kicking.”
Cele explained further that Mateo, in a match against Alexander High School, showed his technique and good footwork.
“He’s putting in the effort, making himself available when he doesn’t have the ball and gets down to business when his team doesn’t have the ball,” he said.
For his future, Cele said that Mateo is still being made into a champion, but for now, the youth coach makes a point of telling him to “work, work, work and let your abilities show” then he can look at playing for the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC).
Horstead is currently studying sports science at the Newbridge Graduate Institute in Durban.