Vukusic delighted to be back for new stint

When Jozef Vukusic boarded the plane in 2012 and waved goodbye to South Africa when his two-year tenure at National First Division side FC Cape Town reached its tail end, the Slovakian mentor somehow knew deep down it was not the end of his love affair with Mzansi.

After six years of coaching in his native Slovakia, Libya and Kazakhstan, the soft-spoken coach has now returned to take charge of Polokwane City.

“All this time after I left FC Cape Town I was thinking that one day I would come back and the moment is now here and all this time I have been in contact with South African clubs and I think it is the best opportunity now to continue,” Vukusic told Phakaaathi.

Vukusic took over the reins from club loyalist Bernard Molekwa, who held the fort as interim coach last season, guiding City to a 12th-place finish in the Absa Premiership. To improve on that position, the Slovak has to hit the ground running.

“I’ve had a few days with the squad and I have learned quite a lot already, getting to know the culture and the players. I have already started on working on some things the players can improve on. We have many players here – we work with about 30. It is a process because some players are still joining us and we already have about eight new players and have to mix them with the old hands so that we have a good solid squad.

“Every exercise we do is about how we want to play and I have seen that in every session the players improve and they understand more and more from session to session. Now friendly games are coming up and our objective is to play to our system. We have to work and see because we need a little more time,” said Vukusic.

“We are going into camp next week and that will be the best conditions for us because we will be together every day of the week and we will be able to understand each other more and more,” he added.

His predecessor Molekwa has so far played a huge role in helping Vukusic adapt, given the contrasting environments between Polokwane and the Mother City which Vukusic is more familiar with.

“It is good that Bernard is here because he is a local guy and he knows the players and he helps me a lot. Secondly, he is a clever assistant coach and that is important. But it is not about individuals like me and Bernard. All the people in the club are working to make sure we are successful and the players are very important.”

Coming in as a foreign coach has its perks, says Vukusic, who somewhat agrees that international coaches have a slight upper hand over home-brewed mentors as they bring a different dimension to the local game.

“The players feel it (being coached by a foreigner) immediately because we have our style of training and our organisation which is a bit different to what they are used to.

“I think it is good because the players demonstrate what we teach them on the field. They follow instructions and they are eager to learn. The mentality is very important because they want to progress and we will do it together. I think the players can reach their full potential if we work hard,” he said.

A lot is often expected from an international coach given their said pedigree. However, Vukusic is not prepared – at least for now – to share what club chairman Johnny Mogaladi has mandated him to achieve.

“I will not talk about that (mandate) at the moment because it makes no sense to talk about it now. We have only done about three or four training sessions.

Maybe we can talk about the mandate later on.”