Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo says Themba Zwane holds the key for the national team to tick, comparing him to Jomo Sono and John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu.
Mshishi returned to the national team a month ago after being initially snubbed by coach Hugo Broos for almost a year.
However, Zwane has proven his class, scoring a brace against Sierra Leone while also pulling the strings in Bafana’s 2-1 comeback win over Mozambique on Thursday.
Khumalo was impressed with Mshishi’s sterling performance, saying he is the one that holds the key for this generation, just like Sono and Shoes in the past.
“I don’t know how are they doing it, because also us when we played against them during our era we used to struggle the first 20 minutes,” Khumalo said on SABC Sport, when analysing Mozambique.
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“They once led us at FNB stadium by 2-0, we came back we scored three. We beat them 3-2. They had the game under control. The game plan was working and spot on for Mozambique – ‘Let’s shut down Themba because he is the one that makes them tick and let’s not allow their wing-play to go in’ but unfortunately they couldn’t master that.
“Second half when they came back, it means the one that had the key to lock Themba lost it, because Mshishi came back and mesmerised them and that’s when South Africa started to play.
“Because the culture of South Africa, there is no way that you won’t have a person like Themba from the start. I’m not talking about the era of 1992. I’m talking about 1978, the era of Jomo Sono. A player like Mshishi is very key in our national team.
“He combined very well with Hlongwane. Clive Barker used to say ‘get Shoes and Doctor to dance’ and this is what Mshishi did.”
