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The Creative Player With Football In Her Genes
Forbes Woman Africa
|June/August 2018
One of three South Africans at the Houston Dash club in the US, the diminutive but talented Linda Motlhalo is a superstar in the making, proving it is possible to make a living solely from football.
South African teenager Linda Motlhalo has not only been touted as a future great of the African game, but also as potentially one of the best women footballers in the world in the coming years.
The soft-spoken Motlhalo does not look the part; her small, wiry frame giving no indication of the fire that lies within as she looks to make a name for herself at Houston Dash in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States (US), considered the best women’s competition in the world.
The 19-year-old is one of three Banyana Banyana players at the club along with national team captain Janine van Wyk and Thembi Kgatlana, the only South African women playing the game professionally and making their living solely from football.
Van Wyk is a hard-as-nails defender and Kgatlana a pacey forward, both very good at their craft, but it’s the silky skills of Motlhalo that has teammates and coaches glowing in their praise.
“Linda has an eye for always going forward and making the penetrative passes, and when she reaches her peak at 25 or 26 years old, she is probably going to be one of the best players in the world,” Van Wyk told FORBES WOMAN AFRICA in Houston.
“If she carries on the way she is, if she continues to play in a professional set-up like this, she has a really bright future.”
Motlhalo’s coach in Houston, the Dutch mentor, Vera Pauw, who was previously in charge of Banyana Banyana when they went to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016 and is one of the most respected figures in global women’s football, agrees Motlhalo is a superstar in the making.
This story is from the June/August 2018 edition of Forbes Woman Africa.
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