Khanyisa Mayo, Pule Mmodi quash disallowed goal controversy

During Chiefs’ last league outing at the beginning of October, Mayo looked to get his first goal since joining the club on loan from CR Belouizdad as he rammed home Mmodi’s lobbed effort that was already headed for the back of the net. 

However, the goal would ultimately not stand after the former Cape Town City marksman was in an offside position, with Amakhosi having to then settle for a 1-1 draw, but Mayo says the matter was resolved and is water under the bridge.

"During the game, at half-time, we spoke about it and I apologised. He said to me, 'No, these things happen. It's football.' It was a lapse of concentration, I wasn't aware of my surroundings and it happened, but we moved on," said Mayo.

"We spoke about it, even after the game I gave him a call and we spoke about it, and he said, 'No, don't worry, these things happen. It's done, let's focus on what is next.'"

The goal would also have been Mmodi’s first this season and come as a huge morale boost for him, in a Chiefs side with plenty of competition in attack, but the winger echoed his teammate’s comments that this matter was not personal. 

"As he says, this is football and it's been a long time that I've known Mayo – he's a striker who likes to score goals, and I didn't take that personally," added Mmodi.

"I wasn't like, 'Why would you do that?' But this is football, everyone makes mistakes, no one is perfect, so life goes on because the next day I'm going to need him."

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Mayo also faced plenty of backlash on social media, especially since the team dropped two valuable points on the day, but the 27-year-old, son of former Chiefs stalwart Patrick Mayo, says he’s learned to roll with the punches. 

"I've grown into the game, I come from a footballing family – my father was a footballer for the club, so he was the one who called me to say, 'No, don't worry, these things happen, take it as a man,'" he explained.

"So the one moment that took away everything I had done in that game, and he told me that, 'It's fine. We are not perfect, but we are human beings at the end of the day, and we have to fix our mistakes each and everyday.'

"So I went into the game, approaching it with a different mentality that I want to help the team win, and unfortunately we didn't win, but it's to create chances for other players to also score goals for the team."