It was exactly a year ago when we spoke to Thapelo Maseko, who had just been crowned SuperSport United Young Player of the Season and was the subject of a transfer interest from Mamelodi Sundowns. One year later, the 20-year-old has added three individual accolades to his trophy cabinet, the latest being the COSAFA Most Promising Player award. In this candid conversation with Soccer Laduma's Delmain Faver, Maseko opens up about what makes him tick, the impact coach Rhulani Mokwena has on his game and why he looks forward to rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in the game.
Delmain Faver: Thapelo, congratulations on winning the COSAFA Most Promising Player of the Year award!
Thapelo Maseko: It means a lot to me…honestly, it's a privilege for me to even be nominated at such big awards. I'd like to thank everyone that contributed to me winning this award.
DF: This is the fourth award you've won in the last few months, if you take into account the SuperSport United Young Player of the Year, the AFL Player of the Tournament and the AFL Top Goal Scorer award…
TM: I couldn't believe that I was the (AFL) Top Goal Scorer and the Player of the Tournament. I think with the environment that I am in, the club, and the players are helping me a lot. They are pushing me all the time. Even if I have a bad game, it won't show because there are quality players with me on the field, so I think my teammates and my coach helped me a lot during the tournament.
DF: When you arrived at Sundowns, you were already a top player for SuperSport United, and it seems you've taken it up a notch at Sundowns. What is it about coach Rhulani that helps you unlock new levels in your game?
TM: Yeah, honestly, he's so good. He pays a lot of attention to detail about myself, what I can do on the field and what I should not do. He's been there and he's talked to me since day one about what I can do to improve on, where I can better my game. We always do corrections after each and every game. He is a hard-working, committed coach.
DF: Taking your game to the next level doesn't only include receiving a high level of coaching, it also requires a sacrifice from you as an individual. How has that been for you?
TM: Ja, it was pretty tough at the beginning, it's not easy but I'm getting used to it. Sundowns is the biggest team in Africa or arguably one of the biggest teams and I had to adjust to get to that level.
DF: A few weeks ago, we spoke to your teammates Terrence Mashego and Grant Kekana about the kind of sacrifices in your personal life that are required to succeed. They stated that sometimes it would require seeing very little of your kids. What have you had to sacrifice from your end?
TM: You pretty much live football; you live the lifestyle. You live within the football space. In your free time you watch games. I watch [Jeremy] Doku, [Leroy] Sane and Manchester City. You have to exclude yourself from a lot of things and focus, you have to train, eat well – and you have to enjoy that environment. You have to embrace it as your life, how you want to live for the benefit of your career.
DF: When you look at what Sundowns has achieved over the last year or so, League title, the CAF Champions League semi-final, the AFL victory, the Nedbank Cup final and the qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup – do you look at it and say all these sacrifices are worth it?
TM: Honestly, it's really worth it. The coach must keep pushing us and he must never get tired of pushing us because, it's working. I will rub shoulders with the biggest players in the world when I go to the Club World Cup, so for us we can see that this thing is working, we must never stop it.
DF: Can you take us through the conversations that occur inside the changeroom.
TM: The first thing they taught me here is that we must win every game! Whether it's a friendly, a cup game, league, Champions League or AFL game, we must win it. That's the mentality that we have, we are mad dogs about it because we always strive to do better and win everything.
DF: When you have that 'mad dog' mentality as you put it, how much of a setback does an injury like yours become because you are aware that competition is rife with two – if not three – guys waiting to take your place?
TM: It's very difficult because when you come back, you are number three, so you have to work three times harder to get back into the starting line-up. The competition is good and most importantly, it is fair but it's very tough.
DF: Does it make it easier for a player like yourself to arrive at a Sundowns dressing room and you look around and see familiar faces like Ronwen Williams, Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena and Grant Kekana who you played with at SuperSport United?
TM: They helped me a lot because the first thing when you come to a new team, you don't know where you sit on the bus and Ronza actually came up to me and said: 'Hey, come and sit with me' because he is my former teammate, so they help me a lot because most of the time I sit next to Aubrey and he tells me what I must do. He knows the environment better. I speak to Tebza too, but I speak to all of them because they've really helped me a lot. I must say I'm grateful for them, honestly.
DF: When we last spoke to you a year ago, you mentioned your burning desire to test yourself at a higher level, with a particular focus on Europe. While you're at the highest level locally is there still a part of you that yearns to test yourself there?
TM: Yeah, it's always been my dream to play in Europe.
DF: Does the upcoming Club World Cup give you as a team a realistic view of just how far you are? You mentioned that you watch a lot of clips of Manchester City. You could potentially face them in the new-look tournament?
TM: Yeah, obviously because we are playing against the best teams in the world. It's a space where we can see where we are as a team. There's no doubt about our quality but that will be the real test to see where we are.
DF: Before you get there, you are guaranteed another shot at the CAF Champions League in the next season. The team came extremely close in the current campaign, it just wasn't to be. What was it like to lose in the semi-finals for the second season in a row?
TM: It was very difficult. The second leg (sighs) we were so dominant and ended up losing, it's so sad. But I think we can still do it, there's still time and one day we will win it.
That's Where Maseko Becomes Dangerous
Neo Molefe – Masandawana Fan Vlog
"The one thing the Thapelo Maseko signing shows about Sundowns' recruitment is the ability to use players to their strengths and ensuring their weapons do not go to waste. When we signed Maseko, we didn't have a player like him, fast, explosive and with the ability to get behind defences and have them facing their own goal. We had players with the ability to pick the pass, players with the ability to operate in tight spaces, but never someone with raw pace and explosiveness like him.
"I knew that he would come in handy when we played in continental competitions because there, we see teams come at us as much we have a go at them. This thing of low block simply doesn't exist. The teams feel they have the same stature that we do, and as a result, launch an all-out attack on us and that is where Maseko becomes dangerous.
"One of the worst things for a defender to face is the prospect of turning to your own goal and having to chase Thapelo Maseko, he's so dangerous in those situations and will continue to be key for us next season in the Club World Cup where again, clubs will not sit back and wait for us to attack.
"The other thing we really need to give coach Rhulani credit for is how he has used him. When he first came in, we saw how he could be useful especially in that game against Kaizer Chiefs where he gave Reeve Frosler a hard time with his pace, but other teams simply sat back, meaning we hardly saw the effectiveness of Maseko – but in that role in the Champions League and the AFL, he excelled where he was an outlet for us, where we could change our style of play slightly and go more route one with him being on the end of long balls.
"I think Hugo Broos identified this same thing and that is why we saw him selected as part of the AFCON squad where he had the same effect in the latter stages of games.
"He is also a goal scorer, though this is something that still needs polishing. He can be so clinical with his left foot, but you can be guaranteed that they will be working hard on it during the pre-season.
"I'm not surprised that he won all those awards, he deserved them and he will continue to win more in future, mark my words.
"There are areas of his game that I also feel need improving. For example, he can contribute a lot more defensively, especially when the opposition double up on our full-back, it would be advantageous to have him add that numerical advantage.
"In terms of ball retention, he can also do a lot better. Often times, we retain possession looking for ways to open up stubborn defences, but the ball is turned over when it gets to him and that needs to be worked on, though I'm confident we haven't seen the best of Maseko just yet."
THAPELO MASEKO FACT FILE
Date of birth: 11 November 2003
Place of birth: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Nickname: None
Jersey number: 33
Position: Left winger
Club: Mamelodi Sundowns
Previous clubs: SuperSport United juniors, SuperSport United
Honours: 2023/24 African Football League winner, 2023/24 African Football League Most Valuable Player, 2023/24 DStv Premiership winner, 2023/24 MTN8 runner-up (all with Mamelodi Sundowns), 9 Bafana Bafana Caps
