Anas: These things happen in football

Beaver Nazo: Moreki, you’ve been in a rich vein of form for Polokwane City lately. What would you say has been the reason behind that?

Mohammed Anas: What I can say is that the support that I have been getting from the management, the technical team and my teammates has been great. I’m talking about guys like Puleng Tlolane, Jabu Maluleke, George Chigova, Walter Musona, Salulani Phiri, Ayanda Nkili and others. They have made me feel at home from the day I got here and have been very supportive, which is why it’s easy for me to perform.

BN: How is Rise and Shine different to your previous club, Free State Stars?

MA: Even though clubs will not operate exactly the same way, I must say I was treated specially at Stars and how they know me there is how they know me here. The guys there also made me feel at home. Guys like Paulus Masehe, Makhehleni Makhaula, Nhlanhla Vilakazi, who has since joined AmaZulu, and Sthembiso Dlamini are all like brothers to me and I felt at home there because of them. There’s not much of a difference between the two clubs.

BN: You were not a regular until fellow striker Rodney Ramagalela got sidelined by the team for signing a pre-contract with Highlands Park.

MA: When he was playing, I was happy to work with him and you know he takes the pressure off of you when you play alongside him. But I can’t say I only got the opportunity to play when he got sidelined by the team.

BN: You joined the club from Ea Lla Koto, where you did very well in your first season, but experienced a change in fortunes in your second campaign, leading to you making a desire to leave. What happened in the second campaign?

MA: When I joined Stars, they were fighting relegation and I joined

One man’s misfortune is another man’s breakthrough, and this could not have been more apt than in the case of Mohammed Anas, who got his chance to Rise and Shine at Polokwane City after Rodney Ramagalela’s much-publicized spat with management. The burly Ghanaian forward has not looked back since, and has seven goals to his name so far this season. His career has not been without its fair share of challenging times, and here we are not even talking about his now infamous TV interview in which he expressed gratitude to two women he wouldn’t be caught dead having a dinner with at the same time. His Free State Stars spell, where he was most recently at, started brightly but ended on a bitterly disappointing note. Anas shares it all in this interview with Soccer Laduma’s Beaver Nazo.

together with coach Serame Letsoaka. I had played with guys like Thamsanqa Teyise and Vilakazi at Maritzburg United, so there were familiar faces, which made it easy for me to settle in. I also knew Masehe, the captain. All those guys and the coach brought the best out of me. The coach told me, “Listen, I will get the best out of you, as you are not an ordinary player. Just listen to my instructions and you will see.” That encouraged me to do well, because when you work with people who understand you, you become free and happy. We saved the team from relegation and, in the new season, he left and was replaced by Luc Eymael. When Luc came in, he had his plans for the team, which were different from those of Letsoaka. I didn’t play in his first and second games. We played Polokwane City in the third game and he told me that he was not sure whether to start me or not. I didn’t ask him why, but just prepared myself. He came to me again before the game and said, “Hey, go out there and show me what you can do.” BN: What happened next? MA: I put that in my mind that I

need to show the coach what I can do. I scored two goals in that game. I knew that it was my first chance and I had to make use of it. I had to grab it with both hands. From there, I was playing and doing well, but what puzzled me was the fact that, while I thought I was doing well for the team, the coach came to me at training and told me that I must look for another club to play for.

BN: Must have come as a shock!

MA: To be honest with you, I was so shocked. But I didn’t ask him anything; I just said ok. He was the coach and I was just a player and I didn’t want to argue. He came to me again when we were going to play the Nedbank Cup final against Maritzburg and asked me if I had already found a club for the following season, and I told him not yet, but that God would decide my fate like He always does. I never argued or fought with him about it. I told him that I appreciate whatever he and the club had done for me and I wished him everything of the best.

BN: You must have been curious to find out why the coach suddenly turned cold towards you like that.

MA: Not at all! I know these things happen in football, bro. I never want to leave any team I play for on a bad note because I was taught never to burn my bridges as I might have to cross them again one day. BN: So you just left it at that?

MA: Yeah, I just didn’t want to leave the club on a bad note. I just let it be and I didn’t even tell any one of my teammates. The only people that knew were my family and my agent because I didn’t want it to cause unnecessary tensions in the team. I am happy that he told me and I knew very well that I wasn’t going to be there the next season.

BN: We’ve noticed that you are a player that doesn’t stay beyond his first contract at any of the clubs you’ve played for. Any specific reason for that?

MA: In football, players come and go, and it is the same with coaches. Each and every game you are in the team, you have to keep reminding yourself that you have to always be on your toes because tomorrow you can be out the door. I mean, sometimes you leave the club not because you are not happy but because the grass looks greener on the other side. That’s football. If I sign a three-year contract here and by the end of it I don’t feel challenged, then I have to move on to avoid being complacent and not delivering.

BN: Moving on… we understand that your wish is to represent Ghana one day…

MA: You know, since the days I was at Maritzburg, I have been praying for that. In my first season there, the team finished in the Top Eight for the first time. I was there helping the team and I thought that the selectors would have a look at me. Steve Komphela was my coach there and he understood me perfectly. He knew my strengths and used me according to them. If the people around you understand you, it becomes easy for your talent to shine through. Even when Doctor Khumalo spotted me in Swaziland, he saw what I could do, but it’s a pity that I didn’t sign for Kaizer Chiefs. My performances were “He told me that he was not sure whether to start me or not.” good. Even the former Ghana captain, John Paintsil, told me that my time with the Black Stars is coming. BN: You have scored seven goals so far and surely there must be strikers in Ghana that are doing better. MA: I am the type of striker that brings players around him into the game. Like now, at City we have the best number 10 in the league, Maluleke, who brings every one of us into the game and I don’t know why that guy hasn’t played for Bafana Bafana. I am not only focusing on scoring goals, but on assisting as well and holding the ball up for my teammates. There are few strikers that can hold up the ball and that’s the kind of quality that the Black Stars need. BN: Do you think you can emulate the achievements of your idol Asamoah Gyan? MA: Asamoah has done it all over the world and, growing up, I looked up to him. I want to learn as much as I can from him. I don’t want to put myself under pressure and say I will emulate his achievements, but I will do my best with what I have learnt from him. We are talking about one of Africa’s best strikers here! BN: Moreki, thank you for your time. MA: Thank you. ❐