NSABATA: MAKING THE PERFECT TOAST

PIC COURTESY OF FAZ

South Africa has been kind to Chipolopolo Zambia Toaster Nsabata after bravely seeking solace in uncharted waters there in the 2021/2022 season.

Nsabata arrived in South Africa a down-and-out figure.

Firstly, Nsabata fell out of favour due to poor form at Zanaco in the last two years of the five seasons he spent there and subsequently lost his national team position.

Nsabata then moved to Zesco in the 2020/2021 season hoping for better fortunes but remained a peripheral figure as a cloud of howlers continued to hang over him.

But a breath of fresh in the PSL at modest Sekhukhune United saw Nsabata reignite the fire of belief where he made 25 starts and last November ended a two-year absence from the Zambia national team.

Sekhukhune may have finished 11th last season but Nsabata s exploits did not go unnoticed and earned him a nomination for the goalkeeper of the year award.

"I think my performance last season was good but I shouldn’t be comfortable and say last season I did this and that and that I was nominated as a goalkeeper of the season," Nsabata said.

"I should not live in the past and expect it will be the same this season. I have to work hard if I want to get nominated again."

South Africa has been a brutal place for Zambian goalkeepers and what Nsabata has done in one season in the PSL is not easy.

But Nsabata has outlasted compatriot and the man who toppled him as Chipolopolo number one Sebastian Mwange whose adventure in 2020 ended five months into a two-year deal at Maritzburg United.

And on top of that, anyone venturing there must beat the benchmark set by Zimbabwean goalkeepers who see the PSL as somewhat of a birthright.

However, the golden standard for Zambian goalkeepers in South Africa remains veteran and 2012 AFCON winner Kennedy Mweene who is nearing 16 years there and still going strong at 37 at Mamelodi Sundowns.

Meanwhile, a new season has arrived and Nsabata has so far made five starts for Sekhukhune before an injury sidelined him in the last three games.

In his absence, Sekhukhune has turned to the highly experienced veteran Cote d’Ivoire goalkeeper Badra Sangare who joined them this term.

But despite the apparent competition, there is a throbbing pulse of energy in Nsabata’s voice of a man who has found something at the end of the rainbow.

"I Toaster Nsabata, "The Bread Machine", "Muchini wa Sinkwa" (bread machine), I don't feel any pressure. He may be the first-choice for Ivory Coast but I am also the first-choice for my country Zambia," declared Nsabata.

"He has come to Sekhukhune but knows I am the first-choice here.

"But I won't just lie down because I am a first-choice and stop training, no.

"He may be the man between the posts now because I have a knock, but when I am fit again, he will have to know that the machine is back."