Pitso building a new and improved CBD in Pretoria
JOHANNESBURG: Jeremy Brockie for Leonardo Castro, little known Gaston Sirino for Khama Billiat and Aubrey Ngoma for Keagan Dolly.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says he is building a new and improved “CBD” – the acronym given by fans to the deadly trio of Castro, Billiat and Dolly.
“I think there’s still one left and even he might leave,” Mosimane said yesterday, referring to Billiat, who is currently the subject of a contract impasse with Sundowns.
Castro has joined Kaizer Chiefs, while it’s been a year since Dolly moved to France.
This week, the coach believes, the mission to fill the void left by those two players and one that is most likely to refuse a new deal was complete when Brockie joined from crosstown rivals SuperSport United.
Sirino, 26, was scouted from Bolivia, with Mosimane going to South America to watch the Uruguayan play in two matches.
“I have said before that the CBD is gone or is going. But we have to make sure that Sundowns stay on top,” Mosimane said.
“You can see that Gaston, with his body size, is not a No 9, but he has got the speed and the intelligence.
“At Sundowns we go for direct replacements and he is coming in for Khama. You ask me how will Jeremy play? He will play where Castro used to play. We also have Aubrey. I think it will take time, but they will be better and possibly stronger than the CBD.
“Sundowns is a big club, a strong club. And the CBD has not played this year, but Sundowns is top of the log and still playing convincing football. The supporters love to play with the names, so we will probably have another combination, and the good thing about this is that we did it very quickly. Aubrey will play his part, Brockie will play his part and so will Gaston.”
But Mosimane warned that in building a new team that will sustain the club’s success, the current crop of players more than deserve their recognition for making sure Sundowns were still top of the PSL standings after 17 matches.
“For the league, we have enough,” he said. “We cannot be complaining. These new players are going to help us with the African Champions League. I am going to give the guys who have done the job respect. You can’t suddenly dump your important people because there is someone new. We should be very careful of that because it can harm a team. The new ones need time to adjust and you know where you can end up on the log. I don’t want that to happen to this team.”
Mosimane said his biggest challenge was to maintain team chemistry and aim for more trophies to add to the club’s already decorated cabinet.
“The team is not winning as much as I would like, but they haven’t done that badly. We need to bring them in slowly. Castro didn’t score for eight games when he first got here, and Khama scored four goals in his first season, I think,” Mosimane explained.
“Sirino can probably play 45 minutes because he hasn’t played for a while. Brockie is okay. And Aubrey hasn’t really played for the last four months. They are not ready. We have to be careful.”