Keeper beats the odds
Mhlongo’s back to Brighton the mood at beleaguered Buccaneers
IT’S A good thing that Brighton Mhlongo has a strong faith and a good sense of humour, otherwise he would have gone mad by now.
Almost every time the goalkeeper seems to have a grasp on something good, something messes it up and he has to start from scratch.
This goes beyond him fighting to reclaim the Orlando Pirates No 1 jersey which has been shared by Felipe Ovono and Siyabonga Mpontshane while he nursed his torn ACL – anterior cruciate ligament – that has kept him out of action since August.
When that happened, he was the club’s first-choice goalkeeper, not because there was no cover after the murder of Senzo Meyiwa, which saw him thrown into the deep end.
He was the first-choice because he deserved it, playing ahead of Equatorial Guinea’s No 1 Ovono and Mpontshane.
Like any good thing that has happened in his life, it was abruptly taken away from him as he was enjoying it.
He must have kept himself motivated by the words he shared on what kept him going during the years when he was the club’s third-choice goalkeeper and eventually second when Moeneeb Josephs left for Bidvest Wits.
While enjoying being the second-choice goalkeeper, and winning the 2012 Carling Black Label Cup over arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs, he got a call from the club’s management to tell him his father had passed away.
That’s why the Soweto Derby is of sentimental value to him and why he makes the most of every opportunity he gets because it might be his last.
“Chances favour a prepared mind,” Mhlongo said in September 2014, a month before he was thrust into the Buccaneers’ goals after the death of Meyiwa, his friend and mentor.
“It’s all up to you, how pre- pared you are mentally when you get that chance,” Mhlongo said.
“In football there are always surprises. Everyone in the team is as important as the captain or whoever scores the goals.
“Senzo waited for how long? 10 years. It doesn’t mean I’ll wait that long.
“You never know when your time will come. I grew up in an environment that taught me when it’s not your turn, you have to be patient. But when you get your chance, you should run with it.”
Just as Mhlongo was fit to return to action, looking set to start for Pirates against Mamelodi Sundowns in December, he was involved in a car accident on a Thursday with the match on Saturday.
His car was written off but he escaped without any injuries.
This afternoon he will look to return to the club’s starting XI for the first time since August when the Buccaneers host Platinum Stars at Orlando Stadium in the Absa Premiership, with the match kicking off at 3.30pm.
In a way, the club’s run has been similar to Mhlongo’s experience.
Just when things look to be going well, reaching the finals of the 2013 CAF Champions League and 2015 CAF Confederation Cup, a spanner gets thrown in the works, with the team losing both finals and falling badly in the domestic league which sees them fail to return to continental football in the following year.
Pirates are in an unfamiliar position as they lie 13th on the log, with a poor Premiership run while their main focus was the Confederation Cup.
They will have no such distractions from now until May in their bid to ensure that they keep their proud record of having always finished in the top eight in the PSL era intact.
To achieve that, they will need a safe pair of hands in goals.