Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has refuted claims that his team is too dominant on the domestic front because of the club’s big financial muscle. Mgqithi says it’s a combination of factors that put his team head and shoulders above the rest.
The 51-year-old coach has advised South African clubs to plan better, get the right coaches for their teams and also to recruit the right players to be able to be competitive.
Sundowns are among the early pace-setters in the DSTV Premiership. Many have already tipped them to win their sixth consecutive league title. But, others have accused the Pretoria-based club of buying too many players, just to weaken opposing teams. However, Mngqithi disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s always about the amount of money that you can splash to build a team because there are teams that are really doing a lot of good work and they will become a very big force in South African football very soon by focusing on what will work for them. If you can improve your coaching and improve your scouting, you can still have top players that can challenge any other team,” says Mngqithi.
Their two recent signings, Abubeker Nasir from Ethiopia and Marcelo Allende from Chile have hit the ground running. They both scored in two successive games for Sundowns after coming off the bench. Mgqithi says he’s grateful that the two new players have adjusted quickly.
“The integration of players normally takes a little bit longer and if you are lucky that players adapt to our playing concept very quickly, probably it would be either they are coming from teams that were playing almost the same formation or maybe the style of play is not different from those teams and with our type of football. I think it’s also easier to fit in if you are a technically gifted player because it’s a playing concept that requires a lot of finesse, a lot of movement, a lot of intelligence and a lot of running,” Mngqithi adds.
Mngqithi says other clubs must also strengthen their scouting networks to be able to match Sundowns.
“For me when teams start to focus more on their youth programme, and teams start to focus more on their scouting programmes, there are so many players out there. You know I’m coaching Sundowns now but probably there are five, six, seven good strikers that I have seen in football in Africa and everywhere else,” Mngqithi explains.
Without a big budget at their disposal, Stellenbosch FC has proved to be a force to be reckoned with in South Africa’s top flight football due to their strong development programme. Mgqithi says the youthful club is producing quality players every season since gaining promotion in 2019.
“[You] can build a very strong team by having a very good eye to look at exactly what you want for your team and I do believe a lot of other teams are doing exceptionally well in that space, look at Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch has not signed any big name player but those players very soon will be wanted by all the big clubs in the country because they are good. Because their youth programme is yielding the results,” says Mgqithi.
With clubs only allowed to sign five foreign players, Sundowns have now exhausted their foreign quota. They were forced to release forward Pavol Safranko and put defender Divine Lunga out on loan to accommodate their two new signings. Sundowns reportedly paid over R50-million for the 23-year old Chilean forward, making him the most expensive player ever in South African domestic football.
