Mayo backs son Khanyisa to withstand pressure at Kaizer Chiefs

Kaizer Chiefs legend Patrick Mayo is backing his son Khanyisa to have a better career with the Soweto giants, surpassing the success he achieved with the club.

Khanyisa, who scored on debut at his new club, will look for more goal opportunities when sixth-placed Chiefs meet ninth-positioned AmaZulu in their Betway Premiership clash at FNB Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm).

Patrick, who donned the famous black and gold between 2003 and 2007 and began his career as a striker but left as an astute defender, said his 27-year-old striker son is light-heartedly bragging about being better than him at Amakhosi.

Khanyisa followed in his father’s footsteps after joining Amakhosi on a season-long loan from Algerian side CR Belouizdad in late June.

“He likes to play under pressure because he is always bragging to me that he is going to be better than me, and I said, ‘It is fine, as long as you keep our surname up there’,” Mayo senior said.

“I told him he needs to be humble and work hard because pressure at Chiefs is always there, whether you are on or off the field. But whenever you are going on, you must know you will call yourself a professional because you are representing an institution — a big one.”

Khanyisa opened his account in his debut for the Soweto giants when he netted in their 1-1 Premiership draw with Marumo Gallants at FNB Stadium last week.

“I was excited,” Patrick said. “When he scored I was happy for him because it’s part of relieving the pressure on him by getting a goal on his debut.

“I’m sure some of the supporters have questions and are asking why they [the technical team] substituted him after he scored. They should have given him that penalty [Gaston Sirino’s miss against Gallants] just to boost his confidence.”

While some may view Khanyisa’s return to the PSL as a failure, his father doesn’t agree and feels it will allow his son to return to the senior national team as he will be getting game time at Amakhosi.

“I won’t say he failed there [in Algeria] because he started well, but things started to change.

“I think being back home is going to help him because he is going to get game time and he needs to work hard to get back into the national team by scoring goals for the club. If you are not doing that at club level, don’t expect to be in the national team.”

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