Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies coach Jerry Tshabalala says the club’s latest signing, Tiisetso ‘Bastos’ Makhubela was the missing piece of the puzzle in the well-oiled defence of the African Champions.
Tshabalala believes Makhubela’s return to Sundowns Ladies will complement a much-disciplined backline spearheaded by Zanele Nhlapho, Bambanani Mbane and Karabo Makhurubetshi.
“When we looked at the team we really needed to bolster, especially at the centre back, us bringing her back in that position shows that we are building the team with the younger ones,” Tshabalala told FARPost.
“It is good for us, and we are excited about it. We know what she can bring to the team and what she is capable of, so we are thrilled for Tiisetso to come back to Sundowns.”
The Sundowns Ladies tactician also stated that acquiring the services of the Banyana Banyana international from a rival club, TUT Ladies was not an easy task.
“We had to fight to bring Makhubela into the team. It has been some time now trying to get her back. We are the ones who saw her; she was still playing for Hallelujah Zebra Force, and we brought her to Sundowns as we saw something in her. We have polished her for a year or so, and she got a call-up to Banyana Banyana.
“The unfortunate part happened that she decided to move away from the team and went to TUT due to personal reasons. She wanted to be closer to home. We kept on pursuing her to say, ‘come back to the team’, this is where you belong, and eventually, it happened.”
The central defender first joined Banyana Ba Style in 2018 before moving to TUT Ladies a year later. She also featured at the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in France and formed part of the Banyana team that was the Cosafa Women’s Championship in 2019.
In total, Makhubela is a two-time Cosafa Cup winner with Banyana, and she was also part of the side that finished as runners-up to Nigeria at the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations which Ghana hosted.
