MAHLATSE MPHAHLELE | Mokwena and Mailula at Wydad — it may turn out well

It can best be described as an American dream deferred for Cassius Mailula.

He has left his Major League Soccer (MLS) nightmare with Toronto FC and taken a brave step to reunite with coach Rulani Mokwena at Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca to revive a career that hit the skids. 

Mailula, 23, left Mamelodi Sundowns in July last year to join Toronto but struggled for game time in a team that boasted Italian internationals Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi and Canadian youth international Deandre Kerr on the attack. He played eight MLS games in his year there.

The quick, skilful striker caught the eye of Toronto after he scored 16 goals and provided five assists in 32 matches in his breakthrough season for the Brazilians in 2022-2023 to earn a Bafana Bafana debut, and hopes were high he would develop into a full-blown marvel in Canada. 

Mailula made eight appearances in all competitions for Toronto, scoring two goals and recording one assist, a poor return that forced Bafana coach Hugo Broos to stop considering him. One of the biggest misfortunes for Mailula is he missed out on selection for this year's Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast where Bafana surpassed all expectations to finish third. 

The Afcon was supposed to be his first major tournament and a key part of his development but he was idling at home while many other players of his age group gained valuable international experience. 

The forward has been given an escape, with Toronto reaching a loan agreement with Wydad until July, but the most important thing is he is reuniting with former coach Rulani Mokwena. That Wydad has the option to exercise a permanent transfer at the end the loan spell clearly indicates Toronto are probably having second thoughts about keeping Mailula for the future and he is unlikely to return to the club. 

Mailula and Mokwena know each other well. Mokwena, first in the co-coaching trio with Manqoba Mngqithi and Steve Komphela, then as sole head coach from October 2022, was the boss who gave Mailula his explosive introduction to the Premiership at Sundowns and there is a possibility of rekindling the spark that saw the forward show glimpses of his ability to be a deadly forward. 

This is a good move for Mailula because he will be working with a coach who knows and trusts him and there is every possibility the duo can be a match made in heaven. If he revives his career in North Africa, Mailula will be in the reckoning for Bafana with another Afcon fast approaching next year and the World Cup in 2026 the ultimate destination for Broos. 

It is not going to be easy for the striker. He has not played much football in the past year and has joined a team under pressure after a poor campaign last season, where the No 2-ranked club in Africa failed to progress past Champions League group stage and finished sixth in the Botola, which they have not won since the 2020-2021 season.

Having played for Sundowns in the Champions League, Mailula will know a bit about pressure and expectation that is going to be a big part of his life at Wydad who have fanatical supporters and demand success continentally. 

One of the people who will be watching him closely is Bafana coach Broos because Mailula is the type of player who will offer options on the attack when he is fully fit and has regained form. Broos has consistently shown faith in tried and tested strikers Lyle Foster, Evidence Makgopa and Percy Tau who are supported by Themba Zwane, Oswin Appollis, Patrick Maswanganyi, Elias Mokwana and Thapelo Maseko. 

In his 38-man preliminary squad to face Uganda and South Sudan in next month's 2025 Afcon qualifiers, Broos named 22-year-old Vitesse Arnhem striker Simon van Duivenbooden. There is notably no space for Iqraam Rayners and Tshegofatsho Mabasa who ended last season in good scoring form and this clearly means Mailula is going to have a lot to do to earn his Bafana place back. 

Broos has shown loyalty to star performers and he has backed players such as Nyiko Mobbie, Makgopa, Tau and Foster when times were tough — it remains to be seen if he will sacrifice any of them even if Mailula regains form. 

There will be familiarity for Mailula among a Wydad technical team loaded with South Africans in Allan Freese (technical coach), Sinethemba Badela (assistant coach), Sibusiso Makitla (performance analyst) and Sibusiso Mahlangu (fitness trainer). He must quickly acclimatise to a new league, new style of playing, new social life and notably foreign culture and new teammates. It will also be important for him to win over some of Africa's most vociferous supporters, who are hard to please. 

Everything is up to him but this could prove to be a match made in heaven.