When Mandla Masango turned the ball home ten minutes into Chiefs campaign during The Amakhosi’s opening game of the 2007-08 season on Wednesday evening, the 18 year old from Mpumalanga had no idea that he had kept up a trend set by Collins Mbesuma in the 2003-04 season.

As he became the fifth consecutive Chiefs player on debut in successive seasons to find the back of the net in his first official game for The Amakhosi, when Mabhudi Khenyeza sent Benoni United keeper Lance Niewenhuis the wrong way in the final minute of the game to score Chiefs second goal on Tuesday evening.

He too entered the history books, as he became the sixth Chiefs player in the last five seasons to score on his debut, after Mbesuma found a goal in March 2004 against Black Leopards. Songwe Chalwe, Louis Agyemang and Siyabonga Nkosi continued the trend when they too scored on their official Chiefs debuts in the 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons respectively.

Masango magic

Amakhosi coach Muhsin Ertugral caught many people by surprise on Wednesday evening as he named five debutants in his starting line up for Chiefs opening game against Benoni, with two more new boys in the bench one or more of the debutants finding the back of the net was always on the cards.

It came sooner than expected as one Chiefs new boy Onismor Bhasera found another Masango after just ten minutes, with a raking ball that deceived the United defense and Masango made the most of his good fortune by turning the ball home just ten minutes into his Chiefs career.

Speaking after the game to kaizerchiefs.com Masango was over joyed at having got a goal on debut, as well as Chiefs first goal of the 2007-08 season.

“When the ball fell to me I had to think fast and luckily I got to the ball before the keeper and when it rolled over the line I just could not believe my good fortune”.

Debut success continues

For many players making their official debut might be a nervous experience for Masango it was not to be the case, as the young player has had previous experiences of enjoying success in his first game with a new club.

In his young career Masango already has a tale to tell of how he has found the net on three previous occasions when making debuts for previous teams.

“When the coach told me that I would be starting Wednesday evenings game I just had this feeling that I would score, because thanks to the All Mighty all my previous debuts have been good ones. You see when I played in the regional league for Walter Stars in Mpumalanga in 2004 I had the good fortune of scoring for them in my first game with the club, a few months later when I teamed up with Walter Stars it happened again and I managed to find the back of the net on my debut for Stars”.

The story though does not end their end he completed a hat trick of debut goals in 2005 when wearing national team colors for the first time, “About two years ago I received my first call up to play for the national u-17 team to play in a match against Namibia. We happened to win the game 5-0 and thankfully I was amongst the goals so I can really say that I have been really fortunate as I have been able to start my life with all these teams on a winning note. I am just happy to be playing for a team like Chiefs at this young age and I am looking forwards to helping the team win more matches”.

Players scoring on their official debut for Chiefs in the past five seasons

2003 – 2004


Collins Mbesuma 16 min


Saturday, March 6 2004


PSL


Black Leopards 1 Kaizer Chiefs 3

2004 – 2005


Songwe Chalwe 25 min


Sunday, January 26 2005


PSL


Jomo Cosmos 0 Kaizer Chiefs 3

2005 – 2006


Louis Agyemang 1 min


Saturday, 20th August 2005


SAA Supa8 ¼ Finals


Kaizer Chiefs 1 Bloemfontein Celtic 2

2006 – 2007


Siyabonga Nkosi 4 min


Saturday, 12th August 2006


SAA Supa8 ¼ Finals


Kaizer Chiefs 2 Golden Arrows 0

2007 – 2008


Mandla Masango 10 min, Mabhudi Khenyeza 90 min


Wednesday, 15th August 2007


PSL


Benoni Premier United 0 Kaizer Chiefs 2