24 Jan 2019

Township Rollers are once again chasing another league title in the 2018/19 BTC Premiership.

Such a purple patch can be attributed to the massive signings the club made in the last transfer window.

One name that stands out is the diminutive yet pugnacious midfielder, Mothusi Cooper who made a switch from Extension Gunners to the Gaborone giants.

Cooper, who for the past three seasons had been on the books of Gunners, was a talent waiting to blossom under the right guidance.

The Tsabong-born midfield dynamo was spotted by Gunners three years ago while playing for Good Hope Senior Secondary School.

At Extension Gunners, he was however at one point on and off the first team. His abilities were somehow overlooked as he struggled to command an assured starting berth on the midfield of Extension Gunners.

With Gunners’ financial woes that made headlines last season, a move to Rollers was a rare opportunity for the playmaker to illuminate his already glittering career with the most decorated local club.

The 21-year-old, who now conducts play from the base of the Blues midfield, has raised many suggestions over a possible senior national team call up, and his recently discovered metronomic ability to dictate the tempo of his side’s play, will have done nothing but fuel the possibility of him getting a senior team call up.

Cooper, who has now pushed the likes of Ofentse Nato and Ntenge off the perking order in the midfield, looks a different player he was at Gunners.

The Under 23 international has more than his diminutive stature in common with the great Gianfranco Zola.

Like the former Chelsea’s beloved Italian, Cooper is blessed with a sunny disposition as well as excessive talent, a beguiling combination that has secured a place in the pantheon of fans’ favourites.

It is not only his passing ability, although that obviously counts, but the fact that his level of alertness and eagerness to influence the flow of the match is much more intense than that of the average player.

Following the prolonged deployment of an unorthodox playmaker in Segolame Boy at Rollers for various reasons, it has been apparent for months that the club was lacking a natural central attacking midfielder.

However, Boy was also on and off the team due to a nagging knee injury, which meant there was a desperate lack of creativity and balance.

This led to the conclusion that Nikola Kavazovic needed a player of Cooper’s caliber at the soonest possible opportunity.

More than technique puts Cooper ahead of a handful, if not all of the players in the Premier League. There is now the commitment to play and the courage to want the ball all the time.

With Kavazovic leaving the club before the festive break and his successor Rodolfo Zapata being a huge fan of possession football, it was clear that Cooper’s qualities will be key in Rollers’ identity as soon as Zapata takes charge.

With the Argentine now fully in charge of the ship, Cooper has assumed an unexpected position, the anchor man role, a position that former gaffer Kavazovic deployed long serving servant Maano Ditshupo, who for a long time proved to be the lynchpin of Rollers.

Cooper put on a sterling performance against cross town rivals Notwane on Friday night, a performance that received many ululations given the magnitude of the match.   

In a remarkable adjustment, the Under 23 international has evolved in the last couple of matches, adding a reasonable defensive repertoire to play a more standard midfielder role. Young, talented and with a gregarious attitude, Cooper looks like a player that could build a career at the Blues.

A great deal of it will depend on Zapata’s ability to introduce him progressively into juggling different positions now and then so that he fulfills his obvious potential. ENDS