When Thabo Mooki stepped up to take Chiefs first spot kick during their penalty shoot out victory over Sundowns in the ABSA Cup semi final this past Saturday, he most definitely had history on his side. Anyone betting against the thirty one year old Mooki drawing Chiefs level in the shootout would have lost his wager, in twelve years of being a Chiefs player Mooki has played in ten cup games against the Brazilians and has only ever once been on the losing end.

With a phenomenal record of having won nine cup matches and lost just once against Sundowns, Thabo who came on a second half substitute against the Brazilians, did not have a case of big match jitters when he went up to his spot kick as he explains. “Sundowns scored their first kick so you can say there was some pressure on us to start off well, I was not really nervous for a simple reason and that was because I was here before”. Thabo easily converted his kick and Chiefs triumphed and once again find themselves in a major cup final, for Thabo the record now speaks for itself as he has almost always come off the better against the Brazilians.

A week ago Thabo reached his milestone 350th game for Chiefs, a milestone he was unaware of and since defeating Sundowns for the first time in a cup game back in the 1994 BP Top Eight Final, he only lost once to Sundowns. He was unaware of this fact as well saying “I did not know that over the years we have dominated them in such a way, playing against them is never easy. With them winning so many league titles down the years - one really does not think about past results so much, what we need to do is ensure that we keep this record intact”.

‘Tsiki Tsiki’ as Thabo is commonly known has now got another old foe on his mind as Chief prepare to face the old enemy Orlando Pirates in the Cup ABSA Cup Final -a challenge Thabo is relishing. He says of the final with Pirates “We have had some epic cup games down the years, since I have been here but I have never ever played a recognized cup final against Pirates. As you get older in your career - you hope to play the bigger teams in the finals. Beating Pirates in the ABSA Cup Final will be the cherry on top of what for me has been a difficult season having to overcome an injury which sidelined me for three months”.