This week's DoRego's column features Supersport United's Thabo September.
We had a bad first half against Mamelodi Sundowns. I think Sundowns should have wrapped up the game in the first half. But we've got a great goalkeeper in Ronwen Williams and credit must be given to him. He kept us in the game in the first half. I think in the second half we were better organised, even though they had more ball possession. We managed to contain them better in the second half and Mor Diouf scored a Goal of the Century for us. It's just one of those goals that are rare to find. He stood up and became the man of the moment for us. I think we've been having a good fighting spirit and the coach acknowledged that after the game. We've got heart. In the Sundowns game we weren't playing very well, but the fighting spirit was superb. It's just that in football when you work hard, you get your rewards. We didn't play our normal game but, because of the effort and the hard work we put in, we managed to get the three points in an unlikely way.
Yho! Jabulani Shongwe wanted to put in a through ball in between our centre-backs, but it got intercepted by Mor. When he took that touch, everyone was behind him and I thought he was going to kick it away. When he kicked it, we could tell it was going in. Judging by the flight of the ball, it wasn't going too high, it was just moving swiftly in the air and, with the goalkeeper backpedalling, it was going to be a difficult one for him. It was just a brilliant goal! Wayne Sandilands had no chance. He was not badly positioned, he was just following the game as a keeper. Everything that Mor did, including his awareness, was brilliant. It's one of those goals that you rarely see in the game. It was a brilliant strike and surely a goal to win any kind of game. It's not a nominee for Goal of the Season, it's a winner! It's a done deal. I can bet my house on it, no one is going to score a better goal than this one in the next couple of seasons. It reminds me of Zlatan Ibrahimovicv's goal for Sweden against England. Like I said, we saw what Mor was doing. He was aiming for the goal. It was not like it was a fluke. I think it's just the connection...everything was perfect. Even at training, Mor does that. He tries to chip the keepers from far away and this time it worked brilliantly for him and for the team.
On playing Petro Atletico in the Caf Confed Cup, we (SuperSport United) owe it to the South African football fraternity to represent the country well in the competition. It's our job to go out there and perform to the best of our ability. We'll be travelling to Angola on Friday to play Petro Atletico and we mean business when we go to Africa. We know how difficult it is, but we've got a chance to come back with a positive result. We saw what happened in our game against Don Bosco and we know how difficult these games are and we don't take them lightly at all. I don't know much about them, but I'm sure the coach is very knowledgeable about the clubs from Angola and he's got contacts.
The good thing is that we get paid to do this (to meet a tight schedule). It's a job. We get tired for sure, but we aren't only 11 players. The coach is managing the players well and does his preparations well for the different competitions. We knew before the week started that we were going to play three games, so we are prepared for the three games. We won't make any excuses about being tired or anything like that. We'll give our best and make sure that we come out tops. Ja, we just love the fact that we've been playing week in and week out. It's always great when you play more than you train, so we're enjoying the moment as players.
My message to the supportersis we're doing our best and we're happy to see the numbers growing. We'll always play for the badge and we thank them. We take it one game at a time. There are 27 points there for the taking, so we'll push for maximum points in every game we play and hope the other teams fumble along the way. We want to finish in a respectable position. There's a big challenge that lies ahead and we know that, and we'll strive for a better position.
Thabo September, SuperSport United
