Bafana Bafana goalkeeper coach Grant Johnson has offered words of encouragement and support to Veli Mothwa, emphasising the AmaZulu FC shot-stopper’s character and resilience in the face of recent errors.
With a high-stakes clash against Kaizer Chiefs looming, Johnson’s guidance aims to restore Mothwa’s confidence and help him rediscover his top form.
The AmaZulu captain committed schoolboy errors in the AFCON 2025 qualifier against Uganda earlier this month. Another error in the Betway Premiership handed Polokwane City FC a win in AmaZulu’s opening game of the season.
However, Johnson spoke highly of Mothwa, who is part of Coach Hugo Broos’s preliminary squad for the Congo Brazzaville clash next month, describing him as “a fantastic goalkeeper, a very good character and a good team player.”
The SuperSport United keeper coach acknowledged the recent setbacks but stressed the importance of maintaining a positive mindset. “It’s not the mistake that’s important… it’s how you recover from those mistakes,” Johnson remarked.
The goalkeeper mentor highlighted the unique challenges faced by goalies. “Goalkeeping is a confidence thing; you need the confidence to play,” he stated, acknowledging the high-pressure environment where errors are magnified. “You make a mistake, and it’s a goal.”
He expressed confidence in Mothwa’s ability to bounce back, assuring that the 33-year-old keeper would regain his usual level of performance. “Veli is just gotta lift his head; he’s a fantastic goalkeeper. I’m guaranteed he will be back and playing at the level he’s used to.”
The coach also provided insights into the selection process for the tie against Uganda’s Cranes. He revealed the difficult decision between a goalkeeper in good form but without international experience and those with prior national team caps but lacking recent game time.
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In the absence of first choice, Ronwen Wiliams, Mothwa got the nod ahead of SuperSport’s Ricardo Goss and Sipho Chaine of Orlando Pirates.
“Selecting a goalkeeper to play is always difficult,” Johnson said. “But this particular one was even more difficult.”
“We had three goalkeepers,” Johnson explained, “one had played 4 or 5 games and done really well but had never played for the national team. He had never played at international level. And the other two hadn’t really played because the PSL had been delayed. But they had international experience; they had played away in Africa. They had played for the national team before and done really well.”
Ultimately, the coaching staff decided to go with experience over current form. “We decided to go with the one who had played before for the national team, who is used to playing with those players, playing in that environment, playing under pressure for the national team,” Johnson said. “And that swayed our decision to go with a goalkeeper who had played for the national team.”
However, Johnson acknowledged that the lack of game time for Mothwa was a factor in his performance. “The problem was that he hadn’t had game time leading up to that game, which is a problem,” Johnson conceded.
“Had the PSL started when it was gonna start, he would have had a few games under his belt and we would have seen a different result.”
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