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Themba Zwane is on course to add yet another stellar season to his collection having been one of the best players in the country in the current season. After winning the coveted Footballer of the Season, “Shika” started this season from where he left off last season.In the 2020/21 campaign, he has hit the back of the net on eight occasions and is looking to score even more as the season progresses. The dangerous forward has been key to the teams record-breaking form, but has praised the wealth of quality in the team:
“The team has been unbeaten and shows that we are doing something well. We are one team, we fight for one another and we push all the time we play. We have quality players that are here to do the job and we can do it”.
Mshishi, Gaston Sirino, Peter Shalulile and Kermit Erasmus have formed one of the most formidable attacking forces in the country, with the forwards often rotating positionally at the top end of the pitch and combining effectively. Zwane explained why he thinks the attacking group have such a natural telepathy amongst them: “The combinations start at training as we push ourselves hard and try to communicate and understand each other. We motivate each other all the time, you can see when we score we go to the corner and celebrate together and that shows it is about the team. It shows that we are in this together, it doesn’t matter who scores but as long as the team wins”.
Earlier in the season Coach Steve Khompela shared via twitter that himself and Zwane have an ongoing competition which involves push-ups and the number of goals scored by the Mshishi, with the coach doing 50 push-ups for every goal scored. The tweet was well-received by many and trended nationwide and Themba was glad to see the light-hearted side of the team was able to be presented:
“Those are the things that bring the spirit to the team and brightens the mood. Whenever you show unity everything works out well. You know we have a couple of new players and by doing the jokes we want to ease up the mood and make them feel welcomed and part of the team. When it comes to work, we always work hard and play no games”, concluded Zwane.
Mamelodi Sundowns touched down safely in Dar es Salaam around midday on Friday after departing Johannesburg at the crack of dawn. Without any delay upon arrival, the team immediately got preparations underway for their CAF Champions League group stage clash against CR Belouizdad on Sunday afternoon.
Speaking on the teams itinerary upon arrival, Coach Rulani Mokwena briefly expanded on what the team’s preparation schedule looks like: “We checked into the hotel, before immediately conducting the mandatory COVID tests for the CAF requirements. We had our lunch, and gave the players a bit of time off to relax before training.”
The team’s training session took place at 4PM on Friday afternoon. “We have two objectives, one is to be able to adapt to the climatic conditions, we have been given a very decent pitch. The weather conditions are extremely hot, it’s about thirty-three or thirty-four degrees, but also extremely humid, so we have to adapt and allow the players to adapt under those conditions.
“The second objective was to complete the session without any injuries, which we managed to do, now we can proceed as everyone is fit and ready to prepare for the match on Sunday.”