Brooks not carried away by instant fame

Galaxy midfielder now a Bafana star

Neville Khoza Journalist
TS Galaxy and Bafana Bafana midfielder Ethan Brooks during the 2021 Cosafa Cup match between SA and Botswana at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
TS Galaxy and Bafana Bafana midfielder Ethan Brooks during the 2021 Cosafa Cup match between SA and Botswana at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

While Ethan Brooks is establishing himself as one of the upcoming and promising players, he has vowed to remain humble and not get carried away by fame.

The TS Galaxy midfielder has had a meteoric rise in breaking into the Bafana Bafana squad. He went from featuring in the Cosafa Cup to starring in Monday’s 1-0 win over Ghana during the Fifa Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier.

At 20 years old, Brooks impressed many with his performance against Ghana and he is pleased with the praise he has received. “It was very amazing for me; I mean, I have been watching Ghana from a young age and it is one of my favourite African teams,” Brooks told the Galaxy media department.

“So, it was a good experience to start a game and finish it. I learned a lot throughout the whole game and as I said, it was amazing. I’m happy to receive these praises from people giving those comments but at the end of the day, it is me that has to go on the field and do the hard work.”

When Bafana coach Hugo Broos told him a day before the Ghana game that he would start, Brooks explained what the coach said to him. “He made it very easy for me. He said to me I must go and play as I do at my club.

“Play with confidence, don’t be too scared, do what you do best and everything will come out well. So, the coach gave me that belief to go out on the field and I believed in myself that I can play against the big guys. I was confident like I have been there long enough.”

Brooks added that the target now was to get six points against Ethiopia in their back-to-back qualifiers next month. “Being on top it does give us a lot of hope. It is not over, we still have to play Ethiopia, so hopefully, we can achieve what we did against Ghana and stay on top of the log.

“We must get six points. It will help us to stay on the top of the log.”

Brooks plans to translate the impressive performance he showed at Bafana to club level, when Galaxy host Golden Arrows in the DStv Premiership match at Mbombela Stadium tomorrow at 3pm.

The Rockets are yet to register a victory this season in their opening two matches and want to end that.

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