Sundowns coach Mngqithi backs ‘big boy’ Jali who was embarrassed by Saleng of Pirates in the 1st leg

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has said that midfield kingpin Andile Jali is itching to get going ahead of the crunch MTN8 semifinal, second leg clash against Orlando Pirates at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday.

Jali was ridiculed after the 0-0 first leg at Orlando Stadium as he was embarrassed by Pirates midfielder Monnapule Saleng who outplayed him and he landed awkwardly on the ground.

This week, Mngqithi said Jali is experienced enough and will be able to handle the pressure of possibly coming up against Saleng once again in their midfield battle.

“Andile is a big boy, he is not a small boy,” said Mngqithi, also explaining why they substituted Jali later in that match.

“To be honest I don’t think he played bad in the previous match. When we wanted to inject a little bit of intensity, we made a choice of taking him out. But, it was not necessarily because he had a bad performance.

“When you say he was humbled, I think maybe you are talking about what Saleng did to him. But the truth of the matter is that in football you must expect those types of things.

“He also did the same thing inside our box where he dribbled opponents there and the opponents were not humbled, it is football. We must accept that sometimes in football and in the line of duty, you will either be dribbled or embarrassed.

“If you are a teacher, you must expect to get dirty because of chalk in your hands and if you are in football you might get injured, you might get dribbled and you might get embarrassed in one way or the other.

“You might concede a stupid goal, it happens in football. I am not even perturbed by what happened to him because I know he is a very strong boy and a strong character and probably he is itching for the next assignment which is good and plays to our advantage.”

Big games like these are often spoilt by referees and Mngqithi said the men in the middle have made some glaring mistakes recently.

“There are some questions you must not answer when you are playing a big match, I think I should run away from this one. But the truth is that some officials have made glaring mistakes.

“They have caused people a lot of mistakes and some points that could have made a difference in many teams. There is one team that I know that in the past two to three matches had maybe three or four clear scoring opportunities if not goals scored already. But, let me keep quiet.”

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