Bustling Gabuza is just what the doctor ordered
THAMSANQA Gabuza is surprising defenders throughout Africa as the sort of bustling and surprisingly agile centre forward South African football has been crying out for.
Skilful deep strikers who drop back as playmakers abound in SA. Big centre forwards who gallop at defences, play off the shoulders of the back four and score headed goals are harder to come by.
In Nouakchott last Saturday, Gabuza showed with his second international goal — a strong headed effort against Mauritania and the lone bright spot of a disastrous 3-1 Afcon qualifying defeat — that at 28 he has something to offer SA as a centre forward.
It all started in the Caf Confederation Cup, in which Orlando Pirates meet Zamalek in their final group game in Cairo tonight. Gabuza’s style saw the striker given his chance in Africa by Bucs coach Eric Tinkler, and his goals and battering-ram performances have seen the striker nail down a place domestically too, and earn national call-ups.
“In Africa you find big guys, those guys with height, those tough guys,” Gabuza said before leaving for Cairo. “Thank God for giving me size to fight those guys.
“They don’t expect my type of player in a South African team. I’m tall but also have pace. When they see me they think I’ll be big and slow.”
Club and country could not ask for too much more than a big, strapping Zulu lad from Ladysmith bashing defences.
Gabuza’s smash-and-grab style results in plenty of scraps for players around him. And there’s a more refined side to the striker too, not surprising for a player groomed at one of the most skilful teams of the PSL era, Manqoba Mngqithi’s Golden Arrows that thrashed Ajax Cape Town 6-0 in the 2009 MTN8 final — a match that new recruit Gabuza watched from the bench.
He showed his flipside as Bafana bounced back 1-0 in their friendly against Senegal at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday with a delightful curler that was kept out by goalkeeper Khadim Ndiaye.
Gabuza — who made his way to Arrows having been spotted by Maritzburg City owner Bongi Hlope playing as a schoolboy for Ladysmith Vodacom League team X20, then via Durban Stars — has scored three goals in the Confed. He scored for Bafana in the 2-1 friendly win against Angola in Cape Town in June.
Pirates have their work cut out to beat Zamalek and top group B, securing Bucs an away match first in the twolegged semifinal.
The White Knights dismantled Bucs 2-1 in Nelspruit in July. Like Pirates, whose Mpho Makola scored against Senegal, Zamalek have players in scoring form for their national team. Striker Bassem Morsi scored a hat-trick, and Mahmoud “Kahraba” Abdel-Moneim scored in Egypt’s 5-1 drubbing of Chad on Sunday.
The biggest factor in Bucs’ favour is that with a ban on fans in stadiums in Egypt, the match will be played in an empty Petro Sport Stadium.
❛ They don’t expect my type of player in a South African team