Namibia and Sundowns striker Shalulile reveals what keeps him motivated

As his country aims to make history by reaching the knockout phase of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in its history, Namibia captain Peter Shalulile has revealed what motivates him to keep going.

Shalulile led the Brave Warriors to AFCON qualification in Côte d’Ivoire where they will reach the last 16 round if they can get at least a draw against Mali on Wednesday.

As one of the leaders in the team and the poster boy of Namibian football, the Mamelodi Sundowns striker opened up about the burden of carrying his country’s hopes. 

“A footballer without pressure is not a footballer. It’s like a diamond, you can’t form it if there’s no pressure,” he said on the club’s Pitchside podcast.

“When there’s pressure, then your A-game comes out and there’s no fear because you have nothing to prove. If you have something to prove, that’s when the mistakes come in. The same performance you give to Sundowns, you must take it to the national team.

“What motivates me is the generation after us. We don’t want to leave football in limbo. We want to make sure that when we retire, then people have seen what we did and they have learnt.”

The hard-running striker has already won back to back PSL Footballer of the Season awards while on the books of Mamelodi Sundowns after making the move to Chloorkop from Highlands Park four years ago.

‘Never be satisfied’

“Never be satisfied and always want more. I always make an example of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi who dominated football for 12 years,” he answered when asked what has been the key to his consistency.

“So if they can be hungry at that age, why not here in Africa. Why can we not be as hungry as them? It’s just the fact that we are still playing to get to their level but wherever you are, make use of it.

“There are trophies that you can get in South Africa or in Africa. Player of the season or African player the season and those are the things that keeps me going. What keeps me going too is when I see someone else scoring, I also want to do 10 times more in training because I don’t want to rest. That keeps me hungry and the fact that I’m not guaranteed tomorrow.”

Bafana Bafana play Tunisia in the other match in Group E and a victory also secures them passage into the next round.