Rivaldo Coetzee: The indomitable Brazilian from Kakamas who defies adversity

In August 2017, it looked like Rivaldo Coetzee’s world was crashing down around him. 

After a meteoric rise in local football, which included a PSL debut at 17 and a Bafana Bafana debut before he turned 18, it seemed as if Coetzee had finally come face to face with a career-derailing obstacle. 

Unknown to a sprightly and bright-eyed 20-year-old Coetzee, as he prepared to have his medical at Glasgow Celtic, his own right foot, the one part of his impressive 1.83m frame that had taken him from the backwaters of Kakamas to the biggest city in Scotland, was conspiring to rob him of his dream move. 

Up until that point, Coetzee had played without any discomfort. During that fateful medical, however, it would be revealed that he had a broken bone on that right foot. So rare was the injury that it confounded even some of the best minds in sports medicine, with specialists consulted by the young defender saying they had never seen anything like his injury before.

That intricate network of bones in his right foot, which some deemed impossible to operate on, seemed to have effectively ended, or at best deferred, Coetzee’s dream of playing the game at the highest level. 

The meteoric rise and the debuts in the local and international game as a teenager all seemed a distant memory as tragedy finally came knocking. 

Coetzee’s star, which had been on the rise, seemed to fade before it had attained its full glow. 

WHAT OTHER OBSTACLE DID RIVALDO COETZEE FACE?

It would be almost two years before he set foot in the competitive football arena. Such trials and tribulations can break an ordinary footballer. Not so for Rivaldo Coetzee. After all, as young as he was, this was not the first time Rivaldo had faced adversity in his football career. 

“When I was head scout at Ajax, it was June 2012, I organised open trials.” Tera Maliwa, former head of scouting at Ajax Cape Town, recalls his first sighting of Coetzee. 

“We had 900 boys, and we selected six. Every coach was there with their boards; I had Rivaldo’s number. The majority overruled me. So, I just scratched his name out.

“His uncle came to me and asked for another chance because he was good. I said, ‘Bring him Monday to train with the team’. I asked the coaches to give me a report. Again, he wasn’t good enough,” Maliwa told FARPost. 

As young as he was then, Coetzee had already had his first bitter taste of rejection by scouts. Before he landed on the lap of skeptical coaches in Cape Town, Solly Luvhengo had already taken him to Pretoria, where he also did not find any suitors. 

“We found the boy in Kakamas when he was 13 years old,” Luvhengo says. “We thought of finding an environment where he would get good development. The option was the School of Excellence or SuperSport United, but SuperSport were not interested. 

At Ajax, then a well-known nursery for budding talent, Coetzee struggled to turn heads. The coaches and scouts were not convinced that he was the real deal. 

HOW RIVALDO COETZEE WAS EVENTUALLY SIGNED AT AJAX

But Maliwa, an experienced scout with an eye for prodigious talent, was convinced that there was something more to this boy. He could not just let him go without another closer look. 

“I watched Rivaldo the whole week. I saw something different. We let him go. I decided to call him back on another school holiday. 

“He agreed to come again in September 2012. After a week, he was told he was not good enough. He stayed eight hours from Cape Town in Kakamas,” he says. 

In the end, Maliwa decided to roll the dice. He would take a punt on Coetzee even though his success or failure would rest on his shoulders. When he finally signed in December, most people at Ajax, from the boardroom to the pitch, were convinced that Maliwa was backing the wrong horse. It took only three months for Rivaldo to persuade them that the wizened scout had been right all along. Ajax had unearthed yet another gem. 

“We signed him in December 2012, and by March 2013, everyone was talking about Rivaldo in the corridors. The rest is history,” he says. 

WHAT STOOD OUT ABOUT YOUNG RIVALDO

While Maliwa might have been the first to see Rivaldo’s sparkling talent, he would not be the last. In the national team junior structures, Thabo Senong also noticed a lad with a game so polished it made a complete mockery of his young age. 

“He could read the game, strong in heading the ball, helping build from the back,” Senong told FARPost. “He had incredible tactical abilities. His timing was perfect. He added a lot of value.

“His progression was so easy in 2013. After Under-17, we moved him to the Under-20s, and then we won the Cosafa Under-20.”

Despite that early praise, Rivaldo’s right foot seemed to have driven him to a career-ending cul-de-sac after that failed medical at Celtic. It was a setback that would simply have overwhelmed most lesser talents. 

The 26-year-old joined the Tshwane giants in 2017. Months of rehabilitation would follow the discovery of that latent injury. When he eventually came back, it would not be long before the mega minds at Chloorkop would reincarnate him into a new player altogether. 

“His passing range is unbelievable. We knew when we converted him into central midfield that very few midfielders have the passing range of Rivaldo,” Downs senior coach Manqoba Mngqithi has previously said. 

“At times, players can rush their decisions, but Rivaldo is always relaxed and always ensures that his passes are as precise as we want. Credit should be given to the development that he got. All of the coaches who’ve worked with him must get credit.”

EXCEPTIONAL TECHNICAL ABILITIES

It was apt recognition for those who worked hard over the years in shaping Coetzee into a talent that seems at home in any patch of the football field. Whether in defence or midfield, his presence has always been felt. 

“He’s a player who can play as a No.8 and 6,” explains Masandawana coach Rulani Mokwena. “He is able to cover the centre-back on the left and right. He can play in a single and double pivot in midfield. You get all of these possibilities because of his technical abilities.”

Now in his sixth year at Downs, injuries have hampered his career, missing out on an entire 2022/23 season. 

The Kakamas native has made 106 appearances for Sundowns, lifting five league titles, the Nedbank Cup, MTN8, and Telkom Knockout.

Even still, after repeated triumphs when the odds have seemed firmly stacked against him, Rivaldo, that indomitable footballer from Kakamas, is still buoyant about taking over on the big stage again.  

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