Outspoken Chippa United coach Morgan Mammila has suggested Bafana Bafana adopt the Mamelodi Sundowns model if the bungling national team is to be revived.
Bafana have become the laughing stock of the continent after many years of underachievement and Mammila says Safa president Danny Jordaan must ask Caf president Patrice Motsepe how they built Sundowns to be a powerful force.
Over the past few years where they have dominated on the domestic scene with five successive league titles, Sundowns have flexed their powerful financial muscle to sign players they want, which Bafana can’t do.
“I am going to send you to the Safa president [Jordaan] and Caf president Patrice Motsepe,” Mammila told media.
“Sundowns is the most viewed football team in this country because of the football they play. If we take the system Sundowns play to Bafana Bafana, are we not bringing back the Bafana we all love?
“When Sundowns play, all of you [media] come here [Loftus], but let other teams play elsewhere you don’t go because you don’t see what you want to see. Here at Sundowns you see what you want to see.”
Mammila suggested plans be made to recruit former Sundowns and Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane as he laid the foundation at Chloorkop.
“The Safa president must ask Motsepe, 'how did you get Sundowns to where it is now?', it’s very simple. We know the person who started this system at Sundowns was coach Pitso and [now Sundowns coach] Rulani [Mokwena] was there.
“Why can’t [we] take these two guys to help the national team so that every day all of you, will go to watch Bafana? If there is a [Sundowns] match this weekend you will be back here at Loftus to watch.
“I am sending you to Patrice Motsepe because he is a man who likes this country. When there were floods in KwaZulu-Natal he pumped money there. Don’t you think he will be proud if South Africa can be in a World Cup and reach the top four?
“You must go to Jordaan and say Morgan is asking, 'don’t you like how Sundowns play?' It pains us, when was the last time a foreign coach won the league in this country? Who is topping the league in this country? Is it a foreigner or a South African?
“At the World Cup there was only one 71-year-old coach, Louis van Gaal. Did he reach the top four? The answer is no. Who reached the final? It was a 54-year-old [Didier Deschamps] coach and a 44-year-old [Lionel Scaloni] coach and they are coaching their own countries.”
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