Maritzburg United defender Mogamad De Goede says he has no regrets to have switched from the in-form Stellenbosch FC in the January transfer window to join bottom-placed Maritzburg United.
Stellies are having an incredible season, especially in the second half of 2022/23, having dumped Mamelodi Sundowns out of the Nedbank Cup quarter-final, ending Rulani Mokwena’s 24 games unbeaten run and also racing back into the top eight.
However, Stellies’ excitement was short-lived as they were booted out of the Ke Yona Cup by Sekhukhune United on penalties on Sunday.
Instead of staying behind and be part of that Stellies’ sterling campaign, De Goede chose a different route to join Maritzburg in January, with the KwaZulu-Natal club having its back against the wall as they are fighting relegation at the bottom of the table.
“I have no regret and I don’t believe in anything like that for my decision being here,” said De Goede to the iDiski Times.
“I’m enjoying it here and we just need to turn it around and I have no doubt we will be out of it. We just have to be positive.”
This coming Saturday, the penultimate game of the season, De Goede will face his former club Stellies at Harry Gwala Stadium, knowing a win is non-negotiable as failure to win this game would mean they will be all but relegated to the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
The Team of Choice is lying bottom with 26 points after 28 matches, three points behind 15th-placed Chippa United and 14th-placed Marumo Gallants respectively, who both also have a much better goal difference.
The Team of Choice had the win in their hands against Gallants, having taken the lead twice on Wednesday last week but, on both occasions, they let it be wiped off in front of their eyes.
But the club is not in this position for the first time, as they found themselves in a similar predicament in the 2015/16 season, when coach Fadlu Davids was the assistant to Ernst Middendorp.
Thami Mkhize scored a brilliant free-kick in the penultimate game of the season in the 83rd minute, to beat Ajax Cape Town.
Going to the last game of the campaign, having moved to 15th place, Maritzburg beat Jomo Cosmos 3-1 away to bring tears of joy from everyone, including chairman Farook Kadodia.
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This time, Maritzburg will finish the season against champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who they have not defeated away since the 2012/13 season. Sundowns are also chasing the record of 72 points, to surpass their milestone of 71 points from the 2015/16 season.
But De Goede has not lost the belief, and insisted the players are here to fight until the last minute.
“The players do believe and you can see the fight, our heads are not down, we are looking up, chests are out and we are all positive,” he added.
“The training is top quality, there is no negativity in the team, that’s one thing that is good in the team – everyone is positive. I feel like if you have that in your team, you believe all together, anything is possible.”
