Mbamba hopes to impress
HE IS ON A MONTH’S TRIALS AT SUPERSPORT
AFTER the disappointment of not getting a first team contract at Moroka Swallows a few years ago, Nedbank Cup Ke Yona product Thembinkosi Mbamba is on a mission to make it at SuperSport United.
The 20-year-old midfielder started training with SuperSport last week after 16 of the players who recently featured in the clash against Matsatsantsa during the international break in Daveyton were drafted into different Absa Pemiership clubs.
Mbamba, a right winger who seems to have already impressed the Matsatsantsa technical team, is hoping he can finally realise his dream of playing in the top flight.
“It’s a great feeling to be here. I am excited to be among big players under coach Stuart Baxter. I hope I will sign my first contract,” said Mbamba, who hails from Duduza in Ekurhuleni.
“It’s a different ball game now, I just have to focus and work hard.”
At Swallows Mbamba was told he was too young to sign a first-team contract, so he left the Dube Birds to play in the lower divisions.
“I joined the Swallows under-13s and I progressed through till the under-19s. There was too much football politics there. We were supposed to sign first-team junior contracts, but they told us we were still too young to sign contracts.
“So I decided to leave them. After that I played for some teams in my township and also in the Castle League and the ABC Motsepe League.”
That’s when Mbamba was recognised by then national under-20 coach Shakes Mashaba, who called up the player for the west African tour in preparation for the African Youth Championship qualifiers in 2014.
“We went to Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali. It was a good experience,” Mbamba recalled.
He is meant to stay with SuperSport for a month before they decide on whether to sign him or let him go.