Godhada plan for me
On defeating Chippa United to win Nedbank Cup
I am really happy that I was in the team that won the Nedbank Cup. I am over the moon because it is my first every trophy in topflight football. The win means a lot to me. The time I left Orlando Pirates without having won a trophy, I told myself that whatever that would be happening next in my career wouldn’t be my decision but what God would be deciding for me. If God has a plan for someone, nobody can change that or take that away. I think God had a plan for me that I wouldn’t win a trophy with Pirates, but I would get it with TTM (Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila) FC. I think each and every team, small or big, has ambitions of winning trophies. If you believe that something will happen, it will eventually happen irrespective of the team that one is playing for. Coming back to the game against Chippa, it was a tough game and the only thing that I think helped us was the good start that we had. We scored early in the game and that worked well for us. We worked for each other and played like it was the last game of our careers. We fought out there and were able to protect our goal after we scored. Going into the game, it was our plan to try and score early and we were happy that we managed to do just that. We had our chances to score a second or even a third goal, but it wasn’t to be. We started the game at a high tempo and that helped us to unsettle them. It was evident from the word go that we were the team that wanted it the most.
On whatthis means for the club
The cup victory means a lot to the club after everything that happened to us earlier on in the season. People never took us serious from the word go and after some of the stuff that was said about our team when the season started, people even doubted our ability to win games. All the stuff that was happening at the beginning of the season was sorted and we were able to focus on our games and improved. I am happy that we were able to show people what we can do because our team is a very good team. I think we have proved to a lot of people that we can do whatever that we want to do. We have proved to people that we can win games. It’s unfortunate that we were judged based on our start to the season, which wasn’t so impressive. I think from now on, our team will be taken seriously and that there will be positive stuff written about our team going forward.
On halting celebrations to focus on relegation fight
I think this victory will serve as a morale booster to go into our remaining games of the season with confidence and to finish the season on a high. It would be embarrassing for the team to win the Nedbank Cup and end up getting relegated or go to play in the play-offs. The cup success will give us the confidence to win our remaining games of the season and we don’t have any time to celebrate as we have to focus on the league to try and save the club. We were let down by our start to the season and that was the problem. Looking at the form that we are enjoying now, we would be talking a different story by now if we had started the season the way that we are playing. We would be on a better position on the log, but we will try our best to win our remaining games of the season.
On working under Kerr, Mathebula andMaleka
It is a very good experience to be working under the three coaches. I would say that we are lucky to be coached by people who played football. All the three coaches played football in South Africa and they have a better understanding of the local game. I think our triumph in the Nedbank Cup and some of the matches we have won in the league is proof enough that their input in the team is massive. The three coaches have made the working environment very comfortable and enjoyable. They allow the players to express themselves and allow us to play the football that we know. We enjoy the freedom that they are giving us, and I don’t think there is any player who wouldn’t perform when given the freedom to express himself on the field.
On facing SuperSport Unitednext
I think winning against Kaizer Chiefs in our previous league game and winning the Nedbank Cup will be enough to give us confidence going into our remaining games of the season. The most important thing will be to get the three points so that we can get closer to safety. But we don’t focus too much on who we are playing and the main focus for us is to get the three points against any opponent. The league game will be different to the Nedbank Cup game that we played against SuperSport United. Also, this game will be different to the first round game that we lost against them. We will be going all out to get the result that will take us closer to safety and that’s all we think about.
Parting shot…
In closing, I would like to applaud TTM for the fighting spirit that the team showed in the cup final for us to achieve what we achieved. It is a big achievement, and no one thought that we would be the champions of the Nedbank Cup by now. Winning the cup means that we will also play in the CAF Confederation Cup. I would like to thank the coaches for believing in us as the players and I would like to thank my teammates for playing for each other. I would like to thank our families for their support and for believing in us that we would achieve what we achieved.