The Maposa Between The Uprights

| Monday August 27, 2007 00:00

 

Noah Maposa, the man who occupies that space between the crossbar and the two uprights for a team now dubbed 'the dream team' remains one of a number of individuals whose contributions have brought 'the dream' that much nearer to realisation.

At Cafe Prego in BBS Mall on a slightly windy Friday morning the goal-minder walks in leisurely. He wears a grey track top with Odipeca written across the chest. The hood hangs loosely on his back.

If a good goalkeeper needs self-confidence to be really great as Maposa would later point out, then the Under-23 shot-stopper might be on his way to greatness.

He has the looks of a young man whose self-confidence is not worn on the sleeve. Rather, it is deep inside, ready to rise whenever required. Perhaps when a striker is one on one against him. Or when he has to organise his defence to defend against a free kick.

To understand Maposa's role in the resurgence of both his team, Centre Chiefs and most importantly, the National Under-23, one has to come to grips with the concept of a goalkeeper.

Goalkeepers may not win games that often but they do protect the victory when it has been cobbled together by the attackers in the team. Unlike strikers and creative midfielders, goalkeepers, with a few exceptions, rarely get the media spotlight.

They are known to be invisible until times are really tough like when a game has to be decided on those dreaded penalties or when the opponent's attack is on the rampage.
Maposa has been on the front pages more often than attackers for the simple reason that the dream team can hardly do without him.

Maposa sits down and orders some apple juice. 'What's the business of the day?' he asks.

Maposa grew up in Gaborone. He started playing football in the early 90s at Notwane Primary School where he was a student.
He moved to Boswa to complete his primary school which he attended with Mogogi Gabonamong, the national team defender.

Maposa, one of the famous four Maposa brothers - Stephen, Joseph, Simione, Samuel - in high-level football, was perhaps always destined to be a footballer.

The genes maybe? Or the family influence? Perhaps a merging of all these factors.
Maposa never really took to academic work. 'At junior school I got really disinterested in school work. I only loved the weekend when sporting activities were on. I just quit school around that time,' he says matter-of-factly.

The Maposa family, quite predictably, did not appreciate their son quitting school. 'My dad had problems with my excitement about football and my quitting school,' he adds.
Football at that time had already claimed him beyond recapture. He had been playing the sport for more than a decade.

There is an interesting detail about him. 'I was a striker for all my childhood years,' he says. The day he switched to serious goalkeeping started when he was about 14 when he was drafted into the national Under-15 team.

Before then he was always alternating between manning the posts and being a forward.
'When the national team trails were done in early 1999, four players were selected from my school, Maoka Community Junior School. I didn't go. But then my school coach then, Shadrack Keatlholetswe forced me to go. When I got there Philemon Makwengwe, the Under-15 coach said the trials were already over so I packed my stuff and went home,' he explains.

The next morning, feeling somewhat left behind, Maposa went to watch the team practising at the national stadium.  While watching, he started to get the feeling that the team was somewhat weak in the goalkeeping department.

'I thought I could do better than the other goalkeepers. So at interval I approached Makwengwe and told him I wanted to be drafted in as a goalkeeper,' he says, freezing in anticipation.

'Makwengwe said, 'but when you came the other day, you said you were a striker'. I said but I am also a goalkeeper. And then he went away. At the end of practise he called me and said, 'man the posts,' recalls Maposa, excitedly.

The young boy went to the stand between the posts. Meanwhile balls were lined on the penalty spot. Makwengwe wanted to test his young protg once and for all. 'He told all the players to take penalties one after the other'.

It was during that baptism of fire that the young Maposa got his first start as a goalkeeper in a proper team. 'I was drafted in on the day and I went to South Africa where we played with our counterparts there in a curtain-raiser for the Mandela Cup fixture between Bafana-Bafana and some team, I forget what it was,' he says.

He played for Hungry Leopards, Barolong Fighters and finally, Centre Chiefs.
After a few years deputising for Lesego Moeng, he was promoted, 'by default' to the No 1 jersey when Moeng transferred to Township Rollers.

He has been with Chiefs on and off for the last number of years.
How does it feel to play for one of the teams with the biggest support bases in the country?

'At first I felt the pressure. In my first game I even wondered whether I could handle a simple back pass. 'But as time goes on you become comfortable and soon the fans become part of your source of strength,' he says.

He says he is relishing the time at Chiefs and in the dream team. 'David Bright,  the Under-23 coach, is an excellent coach. He has no mercy. When he says you must do something you have to do it.

He is a very intelligent person who can read a game very easily and plan quickly'.
Being part of one of the most solid defences in the continent's youth football, Maposa says their strength comes from organisation and cooperation. 'We make it hard for opponents to score. If we do score its even more difficult for them,' he says.

Therefore in many cases victories are made from slim margins. In other words Botswana's strikers never have to score many goals to ensure victory because the defence protects any margin given.

Experts always say Botswana seems to be better at producing defenders than strikers.
'I don't know why that is. But it is true. Perhaps we need our technical people to look more into rectifying that,' he says.

He says that football in the country is growing. 'Many aspects of football development are starting to show growth. The business community is showing more interest in the game. At national level we are bringing in results,' he says.

However he is quick to lament the poor state of player welfare. He says the players are yet to get the full benefits of the current improvements in the sport.
'You still get players earning a few hundred Pula a month. That's unacceptable,' he queries.