Can Basadien recover from tough start?

Fawaaz Basadien was a wanted man in Gauteng, as the 'Big Three' of South African football battled it out for the signature of the highly rated left-back.

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In the end, it was Tshwane giants, Mamelodi Sundowns, who won the race to sign Basadien from Stellenbosch FC, finally getting the man they had been chasing for some time. Basadien, however, has endured a difficult start to life at Chloorkop, hardly getting any playing time with coach Miguel Cardoso going for Aubrey Modiba and Divine Lunga ahead of him. As a result, he has lost his place in the Bafana Bafana squad and his chances of playing at the Africa Cup of Nations are currently slim, unless he starts playing regularly again in the next few weeks. Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane spoke to former Sundowns players to discuss the tough start for Basadien at the club and what he has to do to win back his place in the team. The story of Fawaaz Basadien at Sundowns is similar to that of Elias Ngwepe. Close to 20 years ago, Ngwepe joined Sundowns from Bloemfontein Celtic as one of the best left-backs in the country at the time, but the competition he found at Chloorkop made it hard for him to break into the team. Basadien finds himself in the same situation, having struggled to get into the team at Sundowns after being the Player of the Season at Stellenbosch last season. Ngwepe shared his experience with Soccer Laduma and gave some insight into what Basadien could be going through.

Tshepang Mailwane: Elias, your story at Mamelodi Sundowns is a bit similar to that of Fawaaz Basadien. You left Bloemfontein Celtic to join Sundowns in 2006, but you did not make the starting lineup regularly. Take us through that journey and what the challenges could be for Basadien.