Across Pitori with love – Modiba on SuperSport buddies at Sundowns

Sipho Mbule, Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena and Grant Kekana were teammates for a number of years at SuperSport United, being part of Matsatsantsa A Pitori’s key players in the DStv Premiership. Being together for so long automatically strengthened their friendship that comes way back as Mokoena and Mbule have been friends from a very early age, while Kekana and Modiba became the best of buddies when they met at SuperSport.

Modiba was the first to jump ship and join Mamelodi Sundowns in 2020, leaving behind his friends but fast forward four transfer windows, they are now all reunited at Sundowns following the arrival of Mbule. Kekana and Mokoena joined Sundowns a season apart and Modiba is happy to have finally reunited with his buddies.

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“Our friendship with Grant, Tebza and Sipho is more like family because sometimes when players change teams and they are no longer playing together, they lose contact and the friendship takes a dip but it was not the case with us when I left SuperSport and when Grant joined me later,” Modiba told Phakaaathi.

“I came here (Sundowns) first but we would always make time to chill and talk, share our experiences as well because we help each other and play a lot on and off the pitch. We do a lot of activities and attend the same events. If I have a business idea, the first people that I talk to are them.

“It was a new environment for me because I spent four seasons with them at SuperSport and then moving to Chloorkop meant I wouldn’t see them as much as I did which was something that took me a while to get used to. But the guys at Sundowns welcomed me very well and I did not feel the gap that much and I did not really miss where I was before (SuperSport).

“When they joined, I was like ‘yeah, now I have my brother here’ and I could help them adjust because I got to Sundowns a season earlier. I made sure they felt at home,” he added.

Before joining the Brazilians, Mbule was seemingly frozen out by United as he was suspended for “disrespecting his teammates and the technical team” but all he was doing was trying to forge a move to the other side of Pretoria.

“He has not played in a whole and I did not know what was going on behind the scenes at SuperSport but he is a great player, he is very skilful and creative. He can use it now and he will add value because he has the quality and I am happy that he came. Sipho is one of those players who can create an opportunity out of nothing and that is the kind of player that you want in your team,” Modiba said about his Mbule.