It was something special
Stellenbosch FC’s experienced goalkeeper, Lee-Raoul Langeveldt, chats to Soccer Laduma’s Peter Raath about the club’s mixed fortunes so far in the National First Division. He also talks about the positive spinoffs if the club were to be promoted.
Peter Raath: Stellenbosch FC suffered a surprise 2-0 home loss to Richards Bay FC on January 11, your first at Idas Valley, which means the Natal Rich Boyz have beaten you in both rounds. Do you think they deserved both victories?
Lee- Raoul Langeveldt: No, Peter. We were bad. The team had chances, but just couldn’t finish them. Even our leading goalscorer, Iqraam Rayners, missed a few opportunities. I think we hit the bar twice and there were some off-the-line clearances. Besides that, we couldn’t make a pass... I don’t know what went wrong. In the KZN game, we also dominated, but couldn’t put the ball into the net. Our faithful fans are so used to us winning at Idas Valley that they couldn’t understand it. For them, a defeat was something new. They probably thought, “What’s wrong with those guys?” Maybe it wasn’t a bad time to have an off day after 13 games without a loss. For me, that was a wake-up call, but nothing to panic about. PR: You were suspended for that match after controversially picking up a red card against Maccabi FC. Please tell us what happened...
L-RL:
That was my first-ever red card in about 15 years of professional football after being booked twice for time wasting. I couldn’t believe it. For me, it was upsetting. The ref gave me one yellow card in the 67th minute and another during optional time when we made a substitution. So I was waiting for the player to come on. It’s crazy! Why would I waste time when we were leading 2-0? That’s what I don’t understand. You know how it goes in our league with the referees. They look for things to make you suffer, but it is okay. I sat out for two games, with Dalyan Hawes taking over from me and 21-year-old Keegan Pool also in the squad. Since the beginning of the season, there’s been good competition between the three of us as we didn’t know who was going to play. Keegan is a future star, one of the best goalkeepers I’ve seen. The potential he has compared to other goalkeepers is amazing. For me, his future is bright. It’s Dalyan’s prime time for playing, so he’s also challenging. The club has a very good goalkeeping department and a quality coach in Andre Bronkhorst. I must also give credit to defenders Bongane Mathabela, Mogamad de Goede, Zwelethu Ndlovu, Sibusiso Mthethwa and Alan Robertson for our 10 clean sheets. There’s experience at the back. They know the league. Players who’ve been long in the game understand how to face tricky and fast opponents.
PR: The team then bounced back by beating Ajax Cape Town 2-1, thanks to Rayners’ brace, his fourth this season.
L-RL:
Look, Ajax kept the ball well, but hardly penetrated my goal. To be honest, they had only one or two shots throughout the entire match. Iqraam is on a great run of form, which is fantastic for the team. I can tell you that with his good awareness, shooting abilities and pace, he knows what to do and when to do it in each situation. He is not one-dimensional and, after scoring, he just keeps quiet, hardly celebrates. He’s even very quiet at training and off the field doesn’t talk a lot. However, for some reason, on match days, you’ll see the real striker in him . Iqraam lets his feet do the talking. If you add his 11 goals from last season, then he has 24 so far, while Jarrod Moroole, our captain, is our second-highest scorer on six. Besides always being in and around the box for tap-ins, he’s a good leader. The whole team is well-balanced with a mixture of experience and young boys. Everyone in our small squad is playing their part, especially the senior guys, who are trying to push the youngsters. Nkanyiso Zungu is real quality - the boss in the midfield - together with Junior Awono.
PR: The much-anticipated Cape derby started about 30 minutes late due to crowd congestion, which illustrates that the locals have a huge passion for the game.
L-RL:
I agree, Peter. Those small places like Idas Valley, Cloetesville and Kayamandi are full of people that really do love their football. The capacity of the stadium is about 1 200, but there were close to 2 000 people, which was something special. They like the whole concept of f a profes- f
sional team here. It’s also a big opportunity for all the smaller clubs around the Winelands to buy into the idea of giving youngsters better opportunities. We can develop our own players from this region through the club’s academy, where our Brazilian youth and community manager, Jose Cabral, brings his experience. Stellenbosch won’t be the same again if we get promoted. You can’t imagine how big it’ll be to have a team like Mamelodi Sundowns in town.
PR: Your stunning performance in a 2-0 win over Ubuntu Cape Town helped Stellenbosch grab a seven-point lead at the top of the table.
L-RL:
Thanks, Peter. It was a good team effort. The guys knew that Ubuntu were coming for points, but had scored first, it would have been difficult for them to get back into the game. Coach Steve Barker is very proud of winning two derbies in a row.