Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa says it was “a bit of mind games” that he first held the ball before handing it to Patrick Maswanganyi ahead of their penalty in the Nedbank Cup final.
The Buccaneers beat Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1, with Maswanganyi scoring the all-important penalty to draw the game level in the 71st minute.
However, it first appeared as though Mabasa, who had taken Pirates’ last penalty, would step up after he had picked up the ball, only for the striker to hand it to Maswanganyi after the commotion around the contentious decision was over.
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“Yes, I think it’s something that we were speaking about as players,” he told Thabiso Mosia on Game On.
“I don’t think the coaches were even aware of it.
“I’ve been at the national team, so I’ve had the opportunity to train with Ronwen. He usually knows where I put my penalty kicks.
“And I’m 100% sure that they’ve analysed a few of our games this season where we had penalty kicks and I was the one who took it. So I knew that he would know where I would go.
“It was a bit mind-games and it worked out well for us and Tito managed to put it in the back of the net.”
Mabasa also revealed that he and Maswanganyi had a little chat, and the latter felt more confident on the day.
“Tito was the one who was going to take the penalty, because we had a little discussion about it – him and he felt more confident and he said ‘look, let me take this one’ and I said ‘it’s ok, go for it’,” he added.
Pirates claimed their 10th Ke Yona trophy to complete a cup double for the second season running. Only their Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs have won this trophy more (13).
