‘Sometimes good coaches don’t win’: Modise, Kekana pay tribute to Neeskens

There was a ‘lot of player power’ and an unwieldy squad at the Brazilians when the Dutch great, who died this week, coached the Pretoria giants

10 October 2024 - 14:12
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Johan Neeskens may not have had success as coach of Mamelodi Sundowns to match his immense global stature, but he brought a vision to the players greater than what they had known in the Premier Soccer League, two of his former Brazilians stars said.

Sundowns legends Teko Modise and Hlompho Kekana said the Dutch great, who died this week aged 73, tried to bring international standards to Sundowns in his unsuccessful stint there from July 2011 to December 2012.

Modise said what made the tenure difficult for Neeskens, who arrived after the fourth year of Sundowns’ then six-year period without a trophy, was there was a lot of player power at the club then and Downs’ unfocused signing policy meant there were too many players in the squad.

“There’s a lot that we’re going to say about him as a coach, the type of changes he was trying to implement at the club and the methods he brought,” Modise told Sundowns’ Pitchside Podcast.

“It’s just unfortunate his stay never lasted that long. Also he came into a very difficult Mamelodi Sundowns at that time where I think, personally, there was a lot of player power in the structure.

Former Mamelodi Sundowns stars Teko Modise and Hlompho Kekana discuss the tenure as coach of Johan Neeskens, the former Dutch great who died this week. - Mamelodi Sundowns Pitchside Podcast

“And as much as he was so good in terms of his tactics and ideologies, it’s just sometimes good coaches don’t win things.

“Sundowns also still had the culture [then] of signing so many players without the ambition of helping the team. There were a lot of players and a lot of unhappiness with the players who were not playing.

“At some point we had two squads and after we were done training the other one would come through.”

Modise, a star of Bafana Bafana’s 2010 World Cup squad, said even as a veteran when Neeskens arrived at Downs, the Dutchman had much to teach the attacking midfielder.

“He made me captain of Sundowns at the time. I think he’s one of the few guys who introduced a different system in the team.

“I remember the first time we never played with an original ‘6’ [defensive midfielder], we started playing with Surprise [Moriri] as a deep-lying playmaker. He introduced a three-man midfield with a 6 and two 8s. It was very new to us.

“We knew of him because he was involved in the youth at Barcelona. I knew of him because I was coached by [Neeskens’ former Netherlands teammate] Ruud Krol on the other side [at Orlando Pirates].

“Krol told me about him — they played together at the World Cup.

“When I thought I had learnt so much about football and there was nothing new I could learn, he came and started teaching me new things.”

Kekana, who would go on to become one of Sundowns’ most successful captains when Pitso Mosimane arrived to succeed Neeskens and turned the Brazilians into a trophy machine, said the midfield great brought an innovative, international-standard approach to the club.

“It’s so unfortunate because when you speak about him and the things he used make us do at training sessions, you would swear this guy is actually a good coach,” Kekana said.

“I didn’t know much about him before he came to Sundowns, and then I learnt he was a great of the greats.

“He was a strict guy in terms of tactics and zones — we never knew about zones. He was very strict with the midfielders because he really wanted us to play in those zones.

“But you could tell he was different in how he saw football. We were just unfortunate with the results and being unable to reach the level he wanted to.

“But you could see he was very invested the game, very knowledgeable. He knew a footballer by just seeing him. And by just seeing you he could change [crucial aspects]. Remember how he used to love Themba [Zwane].

“He was a fun guy. When he first saw me and Surprise he said, ‘I wouldn't have signed you because of your walks.’

“But what a fun man and we learnt a lot from him.”

Neeskens’ coaching career never reached the glittering heights of his playing days, where he turned out alongside superstars like great midfield partner Johan Cruyff in 'Total Football' coach Rinus Michels’ all-conquering Ajax of the early 1970s, Barcelona and the Holland side that reached the World Cup final in 1974 and 1978.

After some head managerial roles in Switzerland, the midfielder, who was named in a list of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at the Fifa Awards in 2004, had spells as Netherlands assistant coach to Guus Hiddink and Frank Rijkaard. He continued as an assistant to Hiddink with the Australia who got knocked out 1-0 by Italy in the 2006 World Cup last 16.

He assisted Rijkaard again at Barcelona then Galatasaray, then got the Sundowns job, who were wallowing in the bottom half of the table when Downs replaced Neeskens with Mosimane for the second half of the 2012-13 season.

Neeskens wound down a 23-year playing career in the US in the late 1970s and 1980s and even Switzerland with Baar and FC Zug from 1987 to 1991.

In the North American Soccer League he shared a brief period in the same squad as South African great Jomo Sono at the New York Cosmos.


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