‘Pitso’ hopes to emulate Percy Tau
Downs academy star on right track
Sphelele “Pitso” Mkhulise gets no special treatment from his coach Pitso Mosimane despite sharing a name with the hard-to-please Mamelodi Sundowns boss.
Mkhulise has had to work his socks off to get into the first team after making his way up through the academy ranks.
With Percy Tau having set the bar high for Sundowns academy players, Mkhulise is eager to make a name for himself too. “It’s really hard to break into the first team. It’s only a few players who are able to break into the first team and I am grateful that I have been able to do that,” Mkhulise said.
“If he can do it then so can I. Seeing Percy doing well is a motivation. When he was still with Sundowns everyone saw how many hours he put into football and became the best player. He is doing wonders overseas and that is very encouraging.”
The 23-year-old explained how he got the nickname Pitso. “Many people think I was named after coach Pitso or he is my dad or something,” he chuckled. “I got the name when I was younger playing in my hometown and they used to call me Tso. After a while it changed a bit and people started calling me Pitso.”
The youngster from Pietermaritzburg has made nine appearances and has scored one goal this season. For any young man who just finished high school, joining a team where you are surrounded by millionaire teammates is not an easy transition. However, Mkhulise says that his elder teammates have been nothing but inspiring to him.
“The guys are humble and give me the support that allows me to do well. There are no egos, we are one happy family here. The guys accepted me with both arms when I was promoted to the first team. My teammates don’t behave like superstars or anything, they are good people.”
Mkhulise will hope for more game time this weekend when Sundowns travel to Lamontville Golden Arrows for a Telkom Knockout semifinal (Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium, 3pm).
Golden Arrows assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi is determined to vanquish his former superintendent Manqoba Mngqithi, who’s now coach Pitso Mosimane’s assistant at Mamelodi Sundowns.
Ncikazi was Mngqithi’s second in command when Arrows clinched their first and only top-flight trophy, the MTN8, in 2009. The former colleagues will be at opposite ends when Abafana Bes’thende host the Brazilians in the Telkom Knockout semifinals at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Saturday (3pm).
“It would be nice to win against Manqoba, sitting on the opposite bench. It was 2009, so it’s 10 years now [since Arrows reached a cup final]. That should be a good omen for the team, that it happened at that time I was here and I am here again,” said Ncikazi.
The 50-year-old Arrows deputy coach feels the crop of players the Durban club boasts at the moment is the same as the triumphant class of 2009.
“The kind of players we had back then and the kind of players we have today, they look the same,” noted Ncikazi, who helps head coach Steve Komphela at Arrows.
Ncikazi, who also served as the main coach at Maritzburg United, overseeing just five games in 2015, opened up about his relationship with Komphela, having also assisted him at the Team of Choice before taking the reins himself after the ex-Kaizer Chiefs coach was fired four years ago.
“We are friends because of work, we are not friends because we’re just friends. It’s a good environment where you work with an honest person, a person who gives you room to be yourself,” he said.
“It’s good to work with someone who sees you as a coach rather than a ball-boy or an assistant. We became friends because I like what he does and he likes what I do.”
Arrows have already proved capable of upsetting a side of Sundowns’ stature, having claimed a 3-2 league win in the same fixture a fortnight ago.