Mamelodi Sundowns’ attacking midfielder, Neo Maema took the opportunity to reflect on his journey at the club since his arrival at the start of the 2021/22 season and summarized his season as well as his future with the Tshwane giants. Maema compared his first season with the current one and shared his thoughts on the difficulties he faced along the way, he said:
“It was a very difficult season, I embraced all the good things that happened [and it was] a better season unlike my first season when I came here. I just wanna say that as a team we did very well, sometimes we lost fewer games and broke a lot of records. I think we did very well, it’s a season where we embraced the good things that happened for us.”
Speaking about his overall performance, the talented left-footer expressed his satisfaction with his growth and development during his second season at Chloorkop and also highlighted the invaluable experience gained in his debut season. Billy, as known and praised by his fans, also revealed how this season’s challenges will help in improving his game in the new season.
“The difficulties that I faced this season mostly I’d say it’s getting to adapt quicker into the games [like] the CAF Champions League, the cup games and how fast the games were coming up. I just want to get the hang of it and that’s what I would like to adapt quicker and make sure that in my position I play to the best of my abilities to make sure that team goes forward. Those are the types of things that I wanna change from this season and hopefully next season I will be better.”
Maema has quickly established himself as a key figure in Bafana Ba Style’s attacking force, making 24 appearances in the Premier Soccer League and a total of 10 appearances in the CAF Champions league. Billy shared his unforgettable moments from the season, which include his experience in the African competition and highlighted his aspirations for the upcoming season, pointing out his determination to reach new heights.
“My highlight was when we celebrated winning the league with seven games to go, the other one was to play in the CAF and actually doing very well. Our Coach [Rulani Mokwena] was telling us that we actually went to CAF and haven’t lost any game, even though we went out, but that was the highlight and character of the team, and how we kept it together.”
My goals for next season is to put more goals into the net and actually make sure that we go forward. I still need to go watch my games, write new stuff and make sure that I get those stats up, those goals and assists to help the team and that’s what I am looking forward to.”
