Mkhize wants to get City back on track
THE ELEVATION of Thamsanqa Mkhize to the Bafana Bafana squad is undeniable proof that, whatever the circumstances, football still rewards patience and diligence. The Cape Town City right-back has been a beacon of humility. He goes about his job in the Cape side’s defence with consistency and selfless, unflagging commitment – and his selection to the SA national football team is fully deserved.
Bafana coach Stuart Baxter on Wednesday announced his squad to play Burkina Faso in a 2018 World Cup qualifier at the FNB Stadium on 7 October, with Mkhize gaining a first-ever call-up. But the 29-year-old City defender is not looking too far best right-back on show in the PSL. But, despite not getting a national lookin, Mkhize just continued his impressive form for the Cape side. The idea has always been to batter down the Bafana door, to consistently deliver top-class, consistent performances to ensure that, eventually, Baxter couldn’t ignore him anymore.
After a successful spell with Maritzburg United, Mkhize caught the eye of Orlando Pirates. Unfortunately, things never went according to plan, the Soweto club changed its mind, and Mkhize was left out in the cold. But Pirates’ loss was City’s gain…
Clubless last year, Mkhize was persuaded to come down to Cape Town by City’s former director of football, Craig Rosslee, who had first come across the player when coaching AmaZulu. Eric Tinkler (City’s former coach) had a look at the defender during training, was immediately impressed, and Mkhize was signed up. The rest, well, as they say, is history. The right-back is now in the Bafana squad.
But, before Mkhize can contemplate, or even celebrate, his national call-up, there is a much more important task: to get City back to winning ways tonight.
“We want to do well against Polokwane (tonight),” said Mkhize. “We have the objective to always do well at home and to make sure that we pick up most of our points at home. In our last two games, we failed to get maximum points and now want to make sure that we start winning again. Tonight against Polokwane is an opportunity to do so, and we also want to make sure that we keep on improving.”
After a five-game winning run under new coach Benni McCarthy, City have since slumped to successive defeats – against Kaizer Chiefs and Pirates. Despite the losses, the positive for City and McCarthy is that they were the better team in both games. It was just their inability to convert their dominance of possession and territory into goals. City were also unlucky with a game-defining referee error in the Pirates game, when the match official disallowed a perfectly valid goal. But, as McCarthy well knows, these are the type of issues a coach has to deal with in football.