Tower’s top talents
Mathoho has two specifically strong facets to his game defensively: defending crosses and high
balls by positioning himself well, and organising the backline around him in his understated way. He has started 20 of Chiefs’ Absa Premiership matches this season, missing one game through suspension for a red card and one other due to being rested in a busy week of fixtures.
In those 20 starts, Amakhosi have kept nine clean sheets. Mathoho has helped the side keep shutouts against Black Leopards, AmaZulu FC, Baroka FC, Golden Arrows (home and away), Mamelodi Sundowns, Highlands Park, Cape Town City and Orlando Pirates. However, in some of those games, Chiefs conceded a lot of very good chances. Usuthu scored two goals which were ruled offside when they could have stood, and both Downs and Bucs missed a plethora of clear chances. In the latter game, Akpeyi made five crucial saves, as indicated in the feature in last week’s edition of Soccer Laduma.
Perhaps Mathoho’s finest display was early season against Leopards, when he kept Cuthbert Malajila very quiet as he made eight clearances and won four of his five aerial duels. In that match, he seemed to always be in the right place with his head seemingly a magnet when defending crosses into the box. Not a single one of Lidoda Duvha’s 18 crosses in the game reached a teammate.
A clear sign of how key Mathoho is to Chiefs in the air came in the 1-1 draw in August against SuperSport United. Tower went off injured and, almost immediately, Amakhosi conceded from a long kick by Ronwen Williams without their aerially dominant centre-back on the pitch. He has had several other impressive games too, including making a mammoth 14 clearances in the 2-0 win against Sundowns, making 13 clearances and winning five aerial duels in a 1-0 win against Baroka, and 10 clearances with four air challenges won in the 1-0 victory against Pirates. When Mathoho missed the Telkom Knockout semi-final against Maritzburg United due to suspension, Judas Moseamedi scored twice as he gave Cardoso and Yagan Sasman a torrid afternoon – Tower was a massive loss.