Sundowns’ back-in-form ace Shalulile knew the goals would never desert him

Mamelodi Sundowns hitman Peter Shalulile has revealed the support he received from his technical team and teammates helped him rediscover his form after struggling in the middle part of the season.

The Namibia international has found form at the right time ahead of Saturday's Nedbank Cup final against Orlando Pirates at Mbombela Stadium (3pm), scoring five goals in his last seven matches.

The 30-year-old goalscoring ace — three times the Premiership's top goalscorer, in 2019-20 for Highlands Park and Sundowns in 2021-22 and 2022-23 — said he knew it was just a matter of time before he started scoring again. With his experience, Shalulile is well aware that all strikers go through periods where the goals dry up.

“A lot of people were going on, the media were writing [about my form], but you know as a striker life cannot always be good,” Shalulile said on Tuesday.

“There are down moments where things don’t go well for you. It is how you pick yourself up. With the support [I got] from my teammates and the coach, they never gave up on me.

“You just go back to the drawing board, do the things that you have been doing and eventually the breakthrough will always come. I started getting into form towards the end of the season, which was not my plan but God’s plan.”

Shalulile said he remained motivated through the tough period as he did not want to disappoint the people who look up to him.

“If you believe in yourself and know you are a good player and a good striker, you won’t give up,” he said.

“We see also the best 'CR7' [Cristiano Ronaldo]. People thought he was done, but he is breaking records and he still believes in himself.

“I cannot give up knowing that there are a lot of people looking up to me. If I give up, we will kill the generation that is behind us. Those are the things that keep me going.”

At 39, Ronaldo broke the Saudi Pro League's scoring record with 35 goals for Al-Nassr in 2023-24.