Tembo smoothly guiding SuperSport’s ship
● It’s hardly surprising that Kaitano Tembo has taken to his new role at SuperSport United like a duck to water.
After all, Tembo has been swimming in the same water for a good 19 years — both as a player and an aspiring coach.
When you talk to the 49-year-old Zimbabwean, who arrived at United in 1999 as a scruffy defensive midfielder, you get the feeling that he’s waited too long (12 years) to be installed as the head coach to have any fears about what lies ahead.
When United suffered a 2-0 league defeat away to Cape Town City in Tembo’s first official match as head coach on August 4, one could have thought much worse was coming during his reign.
But Tembo’s calmness under pressure, the one virtue he also had as a player, has seen his team recover in spectacular fashion — winning back-to-back league matches against AmaZulu FC and Bidvest Wits.
After that defeat by City, Tembo’s team recovered in time to bundle Orlando Pirates out of the MTN8 quarterfinals, albeit on a penalty shootout after the match had ended 2-2 in 120 minutes.
“Panicking after our defeat to City was never going to help us,” Tembo told the Sunday Times this week as he prepared his team for another bruising encounter against Kaizer Chiefs in the first leg of the MTN8 semifinal tie at the Lucas Moripe Stadium today.
Being cup holders places a lot of expectations on Tembo’s shoulders but he said there was no reason for him to fear anything after his team’s gallant fight against Pirates in the last eight.
In extra time of that match, defender Morgan Gould fouled Pirates striker Thamsanqa Gabuza and the referee pointed to the spot, only for goalkeeper Ronwen Williams to produce a stupendous save to keep Matsatsantsa in the game when he blocked Augustine Mulenga’s penalty.
“An effort like that save by Ronwen makes my job a little easier,” admitted Tembo.
“It’s in situations like the one we had against Pirates when you need individuals like Ronwen, one who clearly knows and shares the ambitions of the club.”
Giving more hope for Tembo is the form of one of his chief strikers, countryman Evans Rusike, who has scored three goals in the past three matches.
“Evans arrived at the wrong time last season when we were trying to avoid relegation. So it took him a while to adjust,” explained Tembo.
“We knew that Evans needed time to settle in to our way of doing things. He’s had seven months to do that and now you can see he’s starting to come out of his shell.”
But have we seen the best of Rusike? “I believe there’s still a lot more he can offer because what we see now is only 50% of what he’s capable of.”
Tembo credits the struggle he had with the team when he was handed a caretaker role after the departure of Eric Tinkler towards the end of last season as being one factor that helped him develop a strong bond with his players.
“It wasn’t difficult for the players to adjust to my methods because I had been given a similar task before. I coached the team in some of the Caf Confederation Cup matches in 2016 and 2017.”
Tembo praises former United coach Stuart Baxter for giving him that opportunity and the backing when he was his assistant before the Briton left to coach Bafana Bafana.
“I’ve got my own personality but Baxter is the one who shaped my coaching career. He was like a tutor to me.
“I can call on Stuart whenever I feel like I need advice on anything related to football.”
As the window for the signing of players closes on Friday, Tembo feels the club will have to sign up two more central defenders to have enough cover at the back.
“We currently have four central defenders and that’s not good enough for the entire season as anything can happen. Sometimes you lose players on suspension and longterm injuries,” he said.
While he’s inclined to introduce a lot of youngsters developed by the club in their academy, Tembo insists throwing away the experience of club veterans like Clayton Daniels, Gould, Bongani Khumalo, Thuso Phala, Dean Furman and Reneilwe Letsholonyane could be suicidal.
“The club is blessed to still have these players. They have achieved so much with the team and their experience is good for young players like Tebogo Mokoena and Sipho Mbule. While phasing in these youngsters you definitely need the experience of these guys,” said Tembo.
Panicking after our defeat by City was not going to help us Kaitano Tembo
SuperSport United coach