It can be best 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 2022-23 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.
