Former Orlando Pirates superstar has brushed off comparisons between himself and Patrick Maswanganyi after the latter was handed the famous no10 shirt in CAF competitions this season.
Somo made the no10 shirt at the Buccaneers, who opted to semi-retire it when the “Black Prince” hung up his boots.
“The number has rarely been issued out by the club. Not because the number has been retired but rather out of respect for the legends who upheld the status of this legendary number,” the Buccaneers stated recently.
“Only a handful of players have been able to wear it, and that was only in the CAF club competitions, where squad numbers are limited to a set number, making it impossible to have the numbers unused.”
With Maswanganyi following in the footsteps of the likes of Benedict ‘Tso’ Vilakazi, Oupa Manyisa and most recently Vincent Pule, Sono discussed comparisons between him and Pirates’ lates no10.
“We think the jersey no10 is the one that is playing, it was me who was playing,” he told journalists during the launch of their new partnership with Lucas Batteries ahead of the 2024/25 season.
“It’s not me who wanted to retire the jersey, it’s Pirates, not me. I can’t tell Pirates to retire my jersey. At Cosmos I retired it because it’s my club.
“They won’t get it, they want it [but] they’re not good enough.
“That jersey is special. This man [Jomo] scored goals, not [a] goal, goals! I was not just a player, I was special. And special – the difference is week in, week out. Not special for one week and then off next week. I was week in week out, week in week out, every week.
“If I played bad you’d see me on the road, jogging… but no10, he can have it there, no problem.”
Jomo also addressed the recent showboating of Maswanganyi, saying when he did it, he went on to score goals and he didn’t dance towards his own goal, while also warning comparisons between him and Tito.
“I saw him doing this towards his goal post, he was [dancing] on the ball and going this direction. I don’t know, I switched to English football,” he continued.
“He was going this way [backwards], but Pirates were scoring this way. I don’t know, if the Pirates no10 was doing that. I don’t say it’s wrong, I’m just saying the only time I saw him he was doing that.
“I wasn’t going that way [to my own goal], I was going that way. And Jingles Parreira was my shadow, he was following me allover the field. Then I dribbled past him and I went around and he hit me and the referee blew the whistle and I stood on the ball – that’s all I did.
“From there, I took the ball and I went on to score. Look at it, remember I was playing one-twos and then I scored.
“They had already blown the foul against him, that’s why I stood on the ball. Otherwise I’d never stand on the ball, I want to go forward, forward all the time.
“He’s ok, but don’t compare because you’ve compared a lot of times. They’re all dying after you compare them. You can’t compare an elephant to an ant, this guy [me] was an elephant.”
