Kaizer Chiefs have unearthed gold in young defender Lorenzo Gordinho, writes MAZOLA MOLEFE in SoccerClub magazine.
The success of soccer development in this country has several faces, and one of them is Kaizer Chiefs’ young central defender, Lorenzo Gordinho. The club, too, sees him as such – recently tying him to a new contract until 2022.
‘I arrived at Chiefs when I was only 15 years old,’ Gordinho tells SoccerClub. ‘Then I started playing for the reserve team when I was 18, juggling football with finishing my matric.’
He feels his success may have come too early, but if that’s true, he wouldn’t be the inspiration he is for youngsters with ambitions of playing for Chiefs, Orlando Pirates or any of the top five clubs in South Africa’s elite league. In fact, Gordinho also had a stint with the Buccaneers, Chiefs’ fiercest rivals.
‘I was 11 when I joined the Pirates academy,’ says Gordinho. But he was snatched away by Amakhosi, who eventually promoted him to the senior team three seasons ago when Stuart Baxter (now with SuperSport United) was still coach.
It took some time for the 23-year-old to adjust. He was, after all, trying to fill the huge void left by captain Tefu Mashamaite, who moved on to greener pastures.
Ironically, Gordinho had spent his rookie year at Chiefs learning from Mashamaite, as did Morgan Gould and Eric Mathoho, the latter now his regular defensive partner.
‘Those guys were already quite accomplished when I got there, arriving from the reserve team with excitement and thinking it was going to take me time before breaking into the team,’ he says. Mashamaite’s exit was timely. It’s the reason Gordinho has a good story to tell and has an informed opinion on the country’s approach to youth development.
‘There is certainly room for improvement, there always is,’ he says. ‘You can see now there are players featuring regularly for their PSL clubs. The past year was an amazing one, with our U23s participating at the Olympics in Rio and our U20s qualifying for the World Cup in South Korea. Without successful junior national teams, we will
go nowhere.’
Gordinho is going somewhere – maybe it’s to the 2018 World Cup in Russia with Bafana Bafana. After the disappointment of not being able to convince U23 coach Owen da Gama that he was good enough to make Team SA’s Olympic squad last August, there has been a change of heart. With a little nudge from pundits, journalists and Gordinho’s own performances, Da Gama included him in the senior national team’s friendly matches against Guinea- Bissau and Angola in March.
‘It’s such a privilege to represent your country,’ Gordinho says. ‘And I think it was important to get picked, because you get an advantage before a new coach comes in [the new Bafana coach had not been appointed at the time of the interview]. You feel like you are all starting with a clean slate and you get to improve and show early on that you deserve to be there.’
But Gordinho isn’t perfect, and a footballer’s frailties can often be obvious to everyone when he is part of the last line in his team’s defence.
‘A central defender is the pillar of the team,’ he says. ‘So your decision-making is important. It’s an area of my game I need to work hard on. It’s difficult because we often say there is no right or wrong decision, but you have to choose the best one to help your team to benefit. I am working on my techniques, but I know I won’t improve overnight.’
He adds that it helps a bit that Chiefs coach Steve Komphela was a defender during his playing days for Amakhosi, Bafana and had a spell in the Turkish Super League.
The young defender has also become a regular contributor on the score sheet for Chiefs.
‘I am able to pick up game-changing moments from our perspective as defenders, which is very helpful during the game. It gives us that extra edge and we are able to function as a strong defensive unit.’
European Excursion
In January, Chiefs made the most of the six-week break enforced by the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, giving Gordinho a taste of life in Europe. The defender spent a few days at English Championship club Fulham and then at Aalborg in Denmark. While the visit to Craven Cottage was nothing more than a trip, Aalborg didn’t see enough to bring the player on board during a week-long trial. Chiefs moved quickly to offer him a new deal as a show of faith.
– This article first appeared in issue 80 of SoccerClub magazine
