Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has reacted to Themba Zwane’s standout performance for Bafana Bafana and also the latest criticism of coach Hugo Broos.
Zwane had made the Bafana squad for a the first time since Broos took over after the Belgian tactician himself admitted a mistake by not calling him up sooner.
The 33-year-old repaid the faith of Broos with a brace in the 4-0 win over Sierra Leone, with Mngqithi visibly pleased with the development and all performances of his Masandawana players in the national team.
“We are all excited with our players in the national team and probably even there performances in the national team because we’ve had a very outcry for some of these players getting an opportunity in the national team,” he told reporters ahead of the MTN8 semi-final first leg against Orlando Pirates.
“They repaid that confidence that we’ve shown in the performances they’ve shown, more especially Themba Zwane in that space. We are very excited, Aubrey played very well, Tebza played very well. All of them have done very and Ronwen has always been a pillar in that team, so we are all excited because that is what we always wish for. Mudau you know what he is capable of and we are happy to have them back injury free.
“Because whenever they go on International duty, you always pray – more especially when you’ve got such a big game coming up – to have them come back in a very good state of health and fortunately that’s what has happened.”
Mngqithi also discussed Broos’ latest criticism that Premier Soccer League players, who were called up don’t have enough quality, hinting that whenever the coach is pointing fingers at his players, his own selection must also be questioned – but as long as he is winning matches he can’t be criticised too much.
“To be honest I would not want to comment much about Hugo Broos, because it’s a free country, you can say whatever you want to say,” he added.
“But the only thing that is always very important, it gives you a little bit of a free licence to say what you want to say when you’re winning matches. If you’re not winning, there will always be question marks.
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“As to whether South Africa is good enough or not good enough, I’m not sure, because South Africa has achieved very good things in the past – we’ve had our national team qualifying for the Olympics, we’ve had our players performing for many teams, Sundowns competing fairly well in the continental space and locally.
“We’ve had a number of teams doing very… Cape Town City has done exceptionally well, Pirates has done exceptionally well. I believe there is a very big pool of players to choose. But if you are choosing whoever you are choosing and you not winning and you are saying the team is not good enough, maybe when you are pointing fingers, most fingers might be pointing into your direction.
“But if you are winning matches, we are always willing to listen to you, any coach, if he wins matches because it shows exactly what he’s trying to do. But again, the caliber of matches is very important because… Ok, let me keep quiet.”
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