Moorosi Tsiane
WHEN James Madidilane was appointed Bantu coach in 2016, he called in Bob Mafoso to work with him as his assistant.
The duo managed to turn the team into a dominant force in the domestic league.
Bantu tormented opponents and won back to back league titles and performed relatively well in CAF Champions’ League being knocked out in the preliminary phase by Mbabane Swallows of eSwatini.
Bantu had lost 2-4 at home before winning 3-1 away in Mbabane but the win was not enough for them as Mbabane won on away goals’ advantage.
A season later, Bantu went on to win the league and represent the country once again in CAF against Botswana’s Township Rollers. After being deadlocked on 2-2 after both legs, Thabiso Lichaba became the hero saving two penalties to help his team win 4-2.
Mafoso was no longer part of Bantu’s technical team at the time as he had left them for Kick4Life where he was head coach.
Bantu advanced to the next stage to become the first local side to do so after a decade.
But fatigue started kicking in, and Madidilane was forced to shuffle his squad constantly.
Unfortunately, there was a price to pay for the fatigue. And Bantu lost the 2018/19 league title to Matlama after dropping points against Swallows, who were fighting for survival.
Bantu were still on top of the league then but they never recovered from that draw and Matlama overtook them to eventually win the league.
Fast forward to this season, Bantu suffered their first league defeat in almost two years when they went down 0-2 to Matlama at Setsoto Stadium.
Before the Sunday loss, Bantu had last lost a league match in September 2019 against LMPS.
When Mafoso rejoined the side at the beginning of last season, he played 18 matches, won 1 and drew two. The draws were both against Matlama.
The league was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak and Bantu were crowned the champions without losing any match.
Now that they have already lost a match against their direct competitors, it is now imperative to plot the side’s comeback. The side needs character.
If at all they want to continue entertaining hopes of retaining the league championship, then they must bounce back.
It is also the responsibility of the technical team, management and most importantly; the supporters to drum up support for the team.
Bantu remain atop the table with 30 points from 11 matches while Matlama are second with 27 points.
On the other hand, the loss has made the league much more interesting as it will no longer be a one-horse race. Matlama are firmly back in contention and must just win their matches and wait for the leaders to slip up again.
As much as Bantu on paper have quality and depth, Tse Putsoa showed that they must not be ruled out despite having lost twice already. They showed why they are currently the most successful side in the country with 10 league titles to their name.
Its definitely game on now after the Bantu slip up.
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