Mngqithi insists there is no bad blood with Sundowns stars Mokoena, Mudau

‘They are still very important players to the team, you must know that’

18 September 2024 - 09:36
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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi during the Betway Premiership match against SuperSport United at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi during the Betway Premiership match against SuperSport United at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has moved swiftly to clarify there is no bad blood between him and star players Khuliso Mudau and Teboho Mokoena. 

Mudau and Mokoena have missed Sundowns’ last two matches, against Eswatini minnows Mbabane Swallows in the Champions League on Saturday, and the 2-0 Betway Premiership win over SuperSport United on Tuesday night. 

Their absence sparked rumours they have fallen out with Mngqithi, but he came out after the win over United at Loftus to stress the Bafana Bafana duo remain important to the team’s cause. 

“They are still very important players to the team, you must know that,” he said. 

“Because we bombed out at the semifinal stage of MTN8, I did not know of any tension — maybe I am ignorant but sometimes it helps. The truth is I did not see any tension. 

“They are still going to come in and help us, but after the Mbabane Swallows game it was difficult to change the team that much because we achieved far more than many other games. 

“Many would say it was against Mbabane but we have played a lot of these preliminary-stage games before and we never achieved 855 passes, more than 700 completed passes. I think we had about 21 shots at goals and 11 were on target. 

“Their [Swallows] goalkeeper should have got man-of-the-match. Unfortunately when you win like that, you are going to rest some players because of the load they had coming all the way from South Sudan after they played two 90-minutes [Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers for Bafana Bafana last week].” 

Mngqithi said in his selection for the game against SuperSport he was also being fair to the players who performed well in the absence of Mudau and Mokoena. 

“Sometimes it is important to show these players we also have confidence in them and we are not just using them in the absence of certain players. That culture is going to happen a lot this season, considering we have many competitions.

“It is important to make sure we keep everybody hungry and interested.”

In Mudau and Mokoena's absence, Asekho Tiwani and Lebohang Maboe have benefited with game time and they returned with solid performances against Swallows and United. 

“We must also show respect to the players who are performing at that point in time. Sometimes we are caught up in our private politics — that makes us ignore the good performances and opportunities that are given to other players.

“Think of a player like Rivaldo Coetzee who has suffered so much with injuries. When he gets an opportunity and performs, he deserves it. We have about 40 players in the team and all of them are waiting for just one small opportunity to play. 

“If we don’t do justice and give them those opportunities, we won’t know what they are capable of. Today we are talking about Tiwani — if I did not give him an opportunity to play, how were we going to know he is a good football player?

“Lebo [Maboe] has been injured every season but he is a good professional and always gives everything to the team. He deserves to get an opportunity. 

“All these players that are getting opportunities, they deserve [them] because that is justice, transparency and fairness. Everyone must get an opportunity from training, but if you feel you deserve an opportunity from wherever you are, then what can we do? The truth is that all these players are looking up to me to give them an opportunity. 

“Last weekend I gave Malibongwe Khoza an opportunity to play — not many people had seen him because he has not played in the PSL. But he should have got an opportunity to [be] compared with what I have seen in the past.” 


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