Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has weighed in on Tshegofatso Mabasa’s major milestone—reaching his 50th goal for the club—by revealing a specific, key quality that defines the prolific striker.
The goal-poacher found the back of the net in Pirates’ 2-0 win over TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership on Tuesday night at Orlando Stadium.
Mabasa came on as a second-half substitute to score the second goal in the 90th minute to help Pirates walk away with maximum points. The Bafana Bafana international added to the scoreline after Evidence Makgopa gave the Buccaneers the lead in the first-half from the penalty spot.
The crucial three points saw Pirates climb up to the third position on the league table with 15 points in seven matches. So far, the Soweto giants have won five league games and lost twice. In addition, Pirates have also been in impressive form, and they are unbeaten in their last 10 matches across all competitions.
After scoring against Galaxy, Mabasa has become the second Pirates player in the history of the club to reach 50 goals. ‘Sniper’ has moved closer to breaking the record of being the all-time top-goal scorer held by Benedict Vilakazi, who is on 58 goals.
WHAT OUADDOU SAID ABOUT MABASA’S 50TH GOAL
Ouaddou has expressed his happiness with the record of the former Bloemfontein Celtic star, crediting his selflessness as a big part of his success at the club.
“First of all, I’m happy for him, I’m happy that Mabasa scored, it shows the fantastic team spirit in this player. Like I said, at the beginning of the season, he was not playing, but you can see that he has 100% involvement in training,” Ouaddou said.
“He’s very professional, all the time he’s advising his teammates, getting close to them, and he has a clean heart. If I can go a little bit deep, I can tell you that one time I wanted to bring him on the pitch, and he told me to bring in Masindi [Nemtajela].
“So he was pushing for his teammate to play instead of him. I’m not surprised about what you said [about Mabasa encouraging Makgopa to take the penalty], you know it’s very important for a striker to score. I’m very happy about the spirit of everyone.”
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