MASHAMAITE ON CHIEFS, LIFE IN SWEDEN
FORMER Kaizer Chiefs skipper Tefu Mashamaite says his erstwhile side can bounce back and salvage their season, but the club’s supporters have a huge role to play in ensuring this happens.
Amakhosi, last season’s league winners and MTN8 champions, are finding the going tough under new coach Steve Komphela in this campaign.
“The fans must keep supporting the team and creating a positive atmosphere in the stadium for the players and the coach to regain the confidence,” Mashamaite said from the US, where he is in camp with his Swedish club BK Hacken, the team he joined last year.
Mashamaite has his own goals and hopes to win the league title with Hacken this year after they finished seventh last year.
The Swedish calendar runs from February to December.
“It’s been a good stay for me and the first four months last year really gave me an idea of what Sweden is like as a country. I played about seven games of the last eight that were remaining in the season and it felt good,” he said.
“We are back now for the new season and it is cold, but the focus is on adapting and giving my best on the field. Well, for the team I want to challenge for league honours. We’ve made a few good signings with considerable experience and that just shows that we are taking this year seriously,” Mashamaite stated.
The 31 year-old defender who was born in Limpopo added that the strikers in Sweden concentrate more on finishing and that means defenders have to pay extra attention.
“It would be unfair to compare them with PSL strikers, but the strikers there are more focused on finishing. You get a lot of box [strikers] who wait for the opportunity to just finish.
“In SA, depending on the team, obviously, you get strikers who sometimes have to carry the double load of creating space for their teammates plus scoring,” he said.