Simo Dladla embraces Macbeth Sibaya’s presence

Uthongathi head coach Simo Dladla has lauded the presence of former Bafana Bafana international midfielder Macbeth Sibaya in their technical set-up.

Sibaya earned 62 caps for Bafana and competed in the 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups. The 44-year-old has also played in Europe for clubs such as Rubin Kazan (Russia) and Rosenborg (Norway).

The former Jomo Cosmos player, who is also a farmer in his hometown of Hammarsdale in KZN, was recently appointed to be an assistant coach at the Motsepe Foundation Championship club.

“The presence that he has, he has played at the highest level and he has played very hard and big games. So, he comes as someone that wants to breathe that into the players and I am very happy and excited to be working with him again,” he said.

Dladla was also full of compliments for the newly built Baroka Village that hosted its first official match on Sunday.

“The surface is not bad and the size of the ground is not bad as well. It is nice to see facilities like this, especially in our communities. Big up to Baroka for believing in their own and doing their own thing. I just hope that a lot of clubs are going to do such a thing.”

On the 2-1 away win in their foist match of the season, Dladla believes the players did not execute the way of playing but was pleased with the results.

“I am satisfied with the results but I was not happy with the way we played. We had a good pre-season, and we prepared well.

: We had a certain way, a certain style of play and the guys just didn’t do it in the first 45 minutes but yes, I am happy with the way that we behaved in the second half, especially with them putting a lot of pressure on us,” he added.