Larsen surprised no one has snapped up forgotten star Mekoa

Magesi FC coach Clinton Larsen is surprised by the fact that former South African youth international Deolin Mekoa is not playing top flight football. The versatile left-footed player has previously been on the books of Maritzburg United and Ajax Cape Town.

The 30-year-old was also part of the South African under-23 national team that played at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Mekoa has resurrected his career at Motsepe Foundation Championship side Magesi who are chasing automatic promotion to the DStv Premiership.

The Limpopo side have roped in a number of former PSL stars such as Elvis Chipezeze, Diamond Thopola, Edmore Chirambadare, Rhulani Manzini and Wonderboy Makhubu in their pursuit of premiership football next season.

“In January, we brought in three senior players because we needed extra depth in the team so we needed a striker and Rhulani was available. Deolin Mekoa as well who I coached at Summerfield Dynamos in the ABC Motsepe league. He has also played for Maritzburg United and Ajax and the under-23 national team. The third player was Edmore Chirambandare and he’s an ex-Kaizer Chiefs player,” Larsen said to Thabiso Mosia on Radio 2000.

“These three players have had a huge impact since joining in January and I’m very pleased with their performances. Deolin is such a versatile player and can play in any position. I’ve played him in 4 different positions and it baffles me sometimes that players of his calibre have been playing the lower division for two or three seasons. He’s proving once again what a quality player he is and we’re lucky as a club to have the likes Manzini, Mekoa and Chirambadare on our books.”

‘One game at a time’

Magesi are in pole position in the first division with five games left to play. They beat second-placed AmaTuks 1-0 last Saturday to stretch their lead to four points at the top of the standings.

“For us it’s one game at a time but we’re not going to fool ourselves. We know exactly what we need because there are 15 points to play for and our target is 11 points from the 15,” Larsen added.

“So if we get 11 points and get to 60, AmaTuks can only get to 59 and we will be champions. We need to work very hard and take it one game at a time. Our destiny is in our own hands and we don’t need favours from any club. We have worked hard to get to this position and have an advantage over our rivals and it’s up to us now to stay there.”