Former Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Benedict ‘Tso’ Vilakazi has explained why he feels Tshegofatso Mabasa suits his club better than teammate Evidence Makgopa.
Mabasa, 27, has been in fine form since returning to the club and leading the line after the injury of Makgopa, scoring a first career hat-trick in Pirates’ 7-1 league victory against Golden Arrows over the weekend.
He is currently the joint-top goal scorer with Sundowns’ Lucas Ribeiro on 10 goals, having scored four goals in six league appearances for the Buccaneers since his return from loan at Moroka Swallows while Makgopa has five in 15 matches.
Vilakazi believes one of the key differences between the strikers is that Mabasa knows how to position himself as scorer and enjoys the support of midfielders.
“Mabasa gives my heart joy,” said Vilakazi on iDiski TV.
“Because remember when we play we need to have an end product and if we don’t have somebody in that box where are we going to get the end product?
“Mabasa for me and whatever anyone can think of him he is there inside the box. He gets opportunities he makes use of that.
“And that is the one thing I always say about Makgopa, stay in the box, you are the only striker that we have in the game. If you make a run and go wide who’s going inside the box?
“We don’t have those midfielders that when you make a run wide, they will make a run direct to a position where it’s empty. We don’t have those midfielders so we need you to stay there and Mabasa is doing very well.
“He’s scoring now, he is always in that box. We need a striker like that and it’s a good thing that he’s got [Patrick] Maswanganyi supporting him, he’s got [Relebohile] Mofokeng also supporting and also [Thabiso] Lebitso.”
