Rejuvenated Orebonye serves timely reminder
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday March 27, 2020 17:00
The Mascom Top 8 final played earlier this month set up a perfect platform for striker Tumisang ‘Teenage’ Orebonye to remind fans of his qualities. The striker, who was tipped for greatness in the earlier years of his career gave Orapa United a torrid time and found the net early.
The striker is a goal behind the leading goal scorer, Mbatshi Elias with seven in the league, four in the Mascom Top 8 and one in the Orange FA Cup.
The search for a reliable goal poacher started immediately after the Zebras’ impressive showing at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012. At the time, Jerome Ramatlhakwana, who was part of the Zebras squad, set the continent alight, scoring five goals in the qualification campaign. He was amongst the continent’s best and earned a nomination for the African Player of the Year in 2012. To fill the Jay-Jay’s boots, Joel Mogorosi once stepped, but failed to get the goals occasionally with Onkabetse Makgantai also coming close to becoming the country’s leading marksman as the Zebras continues to endure a dry spell in front of goals.
At just 16, Orebonye was part of the Under-17 team that reached the AFCON finals in 2013. He showed all the qualities to become a world-class striker, possessed great speed, could hold up play, was good in the air and had good shot power.
He stamped his authority, giving the Diamond Zebras their first goal at the tournament in 3-1 loss to Morocco. Despite a poor showing at the tournament, the then student’s reputation soared with a number of clubs circling around for his signature. He was invited for assessment at moneyed Mamelodi Sundowns, but did not make the trip due to school commitments.
Plying his trade in the First Division, Orebonye helped Motlakase Power Dynamos gain promotion to the elite league in the 2015-2016 season. He, however, did not have the best goal return, and at the age of 20, giants Gaborone United (GU) snapped him. In his second season in the top flight, Teenage finished as the runner up in the race for the Green Boot with 16 league goals, a goal less than top goal scorer, Terence Mandaza.
This made him a fan favourite amongst local fans and was once again tipped to be the Zebras’ leading marksman, but he had to compete with veteran attacker, Mogorosi. The Palapye-born striker continued his impressive form in his second season at the Reds scoring 13 goals. At the time, GU was battling financial problems, which led to a mass exodus of key players. Orebonye joined cross-town rivals, Township Rollers in a big money move. The striker did not enjoy his first season at the 16-time league champions. He played second fiddle to Joel Mogorosi and was often played on the wing by coach Rodolfo Zapata.
Played out of position and enduring poor form, Orebonye recorded his lowest return in a season with just 10 league goals and three in the Mascom Top 8. However, this season the 24-year-old striker looks a rejuvenated man. The striker shows qualities of his former self. His confidence is at its peak and is on course to reach his highest return in a season.
“It was difficult to deal with a change, from GU to Rollers. At GU I was the leading striker in the team, they relied on me for the goals. But when I got to Rollers, I found a winning team and it was difficult to break into the starting team. As a striker, if you do not score or play, your morale goes down. This is why I did not score much in my first season. I was also played out of position most of the time and that made everything difficult,” he said of his slow start at Rollers. “This season I played most of the games in my preferred position. The current coach believes in me, when he arrived, he told me that he did a bit of a research on me and he believes that I can score a lot of goals. That on its own, brings a lot of confidence to a player. This is why I am scoring goals now.”
He said his aim is to finish the season as the top goal scorer, although he has not set the target for the number of goals. Zebras’ coach Adel Amrouche is likely to have Orebonye at the top of his squad’s list. Despite that the burly striker has scored just once in 28 Zebras appearances, but now looks the part to lead the Zebras’ front line.
FACT FILE
Full Names: Tumisang Orebonye
Position: Centre Forward
Other positions: Right Winger
Date of Birth: March 26, 1996
Place of birth: Palapye
Goal Record
Season Club
19/20 Township Rollers - 12 goals
18/19 Township Rollers - 13 goals
17/18 Gaborone United - 13 goals
16/17 Gaborone United - 16 goals
Zebras caps: 28
Goals: 1