2 weeks Ago
The exclusion of Teboho Mokoena and Khuliso Mudau from Mamelodi Sundowns' matchday squad was big news before the Tshwane derby against SuperSport United even kicked off and head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has now given insight into why he left out the Bafana Bafana stars. Sundowns got the job done with a 2-0 victory over Matsatsantsa on Tuesday evening, building on from the 4-0 victory in the CAF Champions League over Mbabane Swallows. In that victory over Swallows, Mokoena and Mudau were not part of the team, with the coach suggesting that they were rested.
The coach further admitted that he was unable to change the team after the convincing victory of the Eswatini outfit, but made it clear that the two players remain key components in the side. “They are still very important players for the team. They are still going to come in and help us, but after the game of Mbabane, it was very difficult for us to change the team that much because we achieved far more than many other games.
One would say it was Mbabane anyway, but we have played a lot of these preliminary games before, but we have never achieved 855 passes, seven hundred and something passes completed. The highest xG (expected goals) probably in the last 170 matches, the number of shots at goals. I think we had 21 (shots) and 11 of those were on target," Mngqithi told media after the game at Loftus.
"When you win like that and you are resting some players because of the load they had coming all the way from South Sudan and you are saying they played two 90 minutes, when you go to SuperSport, you say let’s continue because sometimes it’s important to show these players that we also have confidence in them. We are not just using them in the absence of certain players and that culture is going to happen a lot this season, considering we’ve got so many competitions and it’s important that we keep everybody hungry and interested. That’s very important.
” It's a clear sign that the players will not walk into the starting line-up, so they will need to work hard to convince the coach to select them again..
