Bafana Bafana and Chicago Fire winger Puso Dithejane’s situation after his appearance in the reserve team drew criticism.
Dithejane, unlike compatriot Mbekezeli Mbokazi, is yet to crack the nod for a starting berth at Chicago, after only getting two minutes so far from the club’s first four matches in the Major League Soccer.
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The former TS Galaxy midfielder had replaced Mbokazi in the dying minutes of a 2-1 defeat to Houston Dynamo in their opening match and has been an unused substitute in The Fire’s previous three matches.
South African supporters raised eyebrows after the Kaizer Chiefs development product recently featured for Chicago’s reserve side, in the MLS Next Pro, equivalent to the PSL’s DStv Diski Challenge.
Soccer Laduma spoke to Chicago-based journalist Alex Calabrese to clarify the situation, after supporters in Mzansi had concerns, while others criticized the move to play in the reserve league.
“So the second team often plays a day after the first team games in MLS, so often the players who are bench players will sometimes get 45 minutes or 60 minutes in the second team just to get minutes, especially if they went a couple of games without playing,” Calebrese explained to the Siya crew.
“So there is absolutely nothing to be alarmed about for the South African fans that Dithejane was playing for the second team, because that line-up wasn’t just him playing, it was Sergio (Oregel) who started 25 games for the first team last season.
“The number two striker Jason (Shokalook), Christopher (Mueller), an important player in the first team, (Leonardo) Barroso, the back-up right-back.
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“Of the 11 players who started (for the reserves) eight players are first team contracted players, even substitutes coming off the bench were first team contracted players.
“So nothing to get worried about. It’s very good for him to get the minutes,” Calebrese, who is also the editor of meninred97.com, added.
