Kaizer Chiefs skipper and No 1 goalkeeper Brandon “Beeza” Petersen has suggested that the club’s goalkeeping department is in safe hands with two young shot-stoppers in Takalani Mazhamba and Naphtali Mokoena already training with the senior team from time to time.
“The younger ones, Takalani and Naphy [Mokoena], are very good goalkeepers... They have shown at the [DStv Diski Challenge] DDC level in the games they have played and many people have been speaking about them,” Petersen recently told Sowetan.
“For me, it’s important to have them as part of the first team because that’s the next step for them... It [training with the first team] lights up that fire in the belly to say that ‘this is where I want to be’, and once you are part of that set-up, you don’t want to look back; you motivate yourself because that’s where you want to be.”
The 31-year-old Petersen, who’s recently penned a new contract until June next year at Naturena, hopes to see 18-year-old Mazhamba and Mokoena, who’s a year older, make their senior debuts “soon”, outlining the duo’s traits.
“I am looking forward to working with them more and seeing them making their debuts very soon,” Petersen said. “Takalani and Naphy are both very good. They are different types of goalkeepers, but there are a few attributes they both have, like talent and humility.”
Mazhamba, who was Amajita’s second-choice goalkeeper behind Fletcher Hani Smythe-Lowe at the Under-20 World Cup in Chile last October, and Mokoena will have to push Bontle Molefe, Fiecre Ntwari and Bruce Bvuma first before they can challenge Petersen for that No 1 shirt at Naturena.
Petersen has missed just one of Chiefs’ 22 games in all competitions this season, keeping an impressive 11 clean sheets while leaking 12 goals in the process. On the other hand, Mokoena has been Amakhosi’s first-option keeper in the DDC this term.
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