Orlando Pirates midfielder Makhehleni Makhaula has conceded he was among the first players to comfort Patrick Maswanganyi following his penalty miss in the Premier Soccer League outing against Cape Town City.
The Bafana Bafana international won a controversial penalty in the 70th minute. However, despite sending the goalkeeper Dareen Keet the wrong way, his effort came off the woodwork before kindly falling to the custodian who collected it.
Four minutes later, Darwin Gonzalez's deflected effort won the game for the Citizens at the DHL Cape Town Stadium.
Makhaula opens up on how he comforted Tito
Maswanganyi was devastated by the defeat and the penalty miss, which could have potentially changed the outcome of the game. He even struggled to get off the pitch since he felt he had let down his teammates.
“I think for me the role that I have is always speaking with the young boys, encouraging them whenever they make mistakes, they mustn't look down,” Makhaula stated.
“We saw what happened with Tito, I was the first one to send him a message to say ‘Boy these things happen, even the superstars, Ronaldo's, Messi's, they do miss penalties. So, it's not the end of the world, you just have to focus on the next one.'
Even the coach is always saying that guys, whether we lose or win we just have to forget, if we win eight or nine, forget about the eighth, there's the next one that is coming. So, I think that's keeping us really going,” Makhaula concluded.
The veteran midfielder is expected to reclaim his starting berth on Sunday when Orlando Pirates take on CR Belouizdad in the Caf Champions League outing at the Orlando Stadium.
