Local football fans have been discussing the possibility that Mamelodi Sundowns striker Peter Shalulile may have lost his goal-scoring ability since ‘losing his matchsticks’.
This season, the 30-year-old has not performed as well as he has in previous ones. He has just scored only six goals in the league, compared to the 12 he scored in the last campaign.
Some fans believe that the striker’s problems started in the MTN8 final match against Orlando Pirates where he appeared to have dropped matchsticks during the game.
The referee collected them before throwing them out of the pitch. Since then, Shalulile has found it difficult to score goals. He went into the Africa Cup of Nations as Namibia’s top player but failed to score a single goal. Known for many years as a clinical striker, lately, he has missed obvious goal-scoring chances.
‘Shalulile nothing without his matchsticks’, says fans
His goal-scoring drought eventually ended in a match against TS Galaxy, where he scored a brace. Masandawana rejoiced but two games later, he once again found scoring difficult when he missed a penalty against Stellenbosch.
He also missed several chances when Downs was eliminated against Esperance. Despite the criticism from some fans, Sundowns coach, Rulani Mokwena, said that he was not worried about Shalulile’s form.
“I think we got the tactics right, the game became a bit complicated after we missed the penalty,” he told media.
“It’s bitter-sweet, I look at it and say to myself I want us to score the penalty and I’m very proud of Peter, with a very difficult run still putting up his hand saying he wants to take it.
“I am very proud of him showing that mentality but I’m more proud of this football team. When I say to you they are good human beings this is exactly what I mean. They sacrifice the penalty and say let’s give it to Peter,” Mokwena added.
Last month, ex-Sundowns striker Katlego Mashego defended the misfiring Shalulile and did not blame matchsticks for lack of goals.
“With strikers, you can see he hasn’t been scoring but are people that are supposed to provide for him helping him?” Mashego asked.
The Sundowns striker has been missing easy chances
“It’s good and well to say a striker is not scoring but if he’s not missing chances then it’s a different scenario because Shalulile is not missing chances. If he was missing then it would have been something else but he’s not getting chances. I don’t want to say there’s no supply but he’s not missing chances that’s why he’s not scoring.”
With only six goals this campaign, some fans believe Shalulile’s magic was lost when he lost his ‘matchsticks’. On X(Twitter), @Matome_Kay asked why the Sundowns striker couldn’t get another matchbox muti.
@alcari433 wrote: “Since Shalulile lost his match sticks from that match official, his performance has dropped.”