Kaizer Chiefs | No goal celebration for Mashiane against Maritzburg United

Happy Mashiane has the utmost respect for Ernst Middendorp and therefore will not celebrate if he scores in Wednesday’s league match between Maritzburg United and Kaizer Chiefs at Harry Gwala Stadium.

The Amakhosi midfielder said the reason he wouldn’t celebrate is because Middendorp gave him a platform as a professional.

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Mashiane was promoted to the Chiefs first team by Middendorp in 2019, and since then, he has been one of the rising PSL stars.

“I have to respect him. If I score I won’t celebrate. He is one of the coaches who gave me a platform,” Mashiane told reporters.

Mashiane recently returned from a long-term injury, and he admits it wasn’t easy, adding that he had to work twice as hard to reclaim his spot in Gavin Hunt’s starting line.

And he feels fortunate that he scored when Chiefs defeated Petro de Luanda 2-0 in the CAF Champions League last weekend – that was Mashiane’s third goal for Amakhosi this season.

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“Coming back from injury wasn’t that easy. I had to work hard to be in the starting line up, and I was fortunate enough to score a goal,” he revealed.

Chiefs will shift their focus to the league with a clash away to Maritzburg United, and Mashiane expects a tough encounter at Harry Gwala Stadium.

“It will not be easy, we know in the first round they won at FNB, and we know at Harry Gwala, most teams don’t leave with maximum points,” added Mashiane.

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“Maritzburg don’t concede too much, they are a good team, most of the time… they are dominating in terms of keeping the ball and they have speedy players.”

Furthermore, Mashiane admitted it is not good for Chiefs to be sitting 10th on the DStv Premiership log, but said they will take every game as it comes until the end of the season.

“It is not a good thing for a big team like Chiefs to be tenth on the log but we are taking it one game at a time. 

“What we always say is that we are the ones who put ourselves in this situation. So, we have to start climbing up the log. The route upwards begins on Wednesday,” added Mashiane.

The match between the Team of Choice and Amakhosi is scheduled for 6PM SA time.