Ngcobo is the man of the moment
In a way that only Jomo Sono could put it, the Cosmos coach put it bluntly that getting knocked out of the Nedbank Cup was good for his team because now his players can focus on their National First Division campaign.
Sono said he felt his players were saving themselves for Ke Yona matches because they are broadcast live on television.
“Sometimes the players’ mind get distracted,” he said after Ezenkosi’s 1-0 defeat to TS Galaxy at Makhulong Stadium on Sunday. “You could see it in Cape Town (a week before where they lost) that some players wanted to save themselves for this game. They wanted to play in a game that is on TV. Maybe they can concentrate on the league now,” he added.
Ezenkosi are 12th on the NFD standings with 23 points and if they are to get into the promotion places again this season, they will need to win consistently in their last 10 matches.
Galaxy coach Dan Malesela said they have ambitions bigger than just pleasing the admirable crowds they get at their home venue, the Kameelsrivier Stadium where they play in front of 6 000 vocal supporters every week.
“We can only learn,” he said of a chance of playing Caf Confed- eration Cup football next season should they go on and win the Nedbank Cup. He said it was a myth that smaller teams suffer dire consequences after participating in continental competitions, as happened at Free State Stars.
“Those are just myths. It is how prepared you are. I am not saying Stars didn’t prepare well. You have to be holistically prepared. You have to have the players for it. It becomes a learning measure,” he said.
“My ambition is not to just play at home and have people excited by playing good football but have nothing to show for it,” said the former Chippa United coach.
He also said his team still had a fighting chance in the race for promotion as they still had good points on offer – so long as they change their mentality.
“The doors are not shut, so as long as the points are available you can always fight for it. But we put pressure on ourselves because we play well and do not win games. We need to score with the chances we create.
“We need to fix our away record. The mindset sometimes changes when we are away because the players get spoiled by the vibe we have at home. We have to adjust to that. When we play away there are sometimes just 20 people in the stands and it affects us. That has to change,” said Malesela.
Galaxy and Roger de Sa’s Cape Umoya United will be the only two teams from the NFD left in the pots when the draw for the quarterfinals of Ke Yona is made on Thursday evening.
Umoya beat Mbombela United 4-2 on penalties last Friday to advance to the last eight. It might have not been the best performance by the team, but Amajita held their own at the Under-20 Caf Africa Cup of Nations, which ended this weekend in Niger.
The South Africans finished third among the best eight Under-20 teams on the continent and qualified for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup for the second successive time, having competed at the 2017 edition in Korea.
Meanwhile, midfielder Nkosingiphile Ngcobo (above) was included in the best XI team at the tournament.
The tournament proved to be very tough for Amajita from their opening game against the hosts, with the game finishing 1-1.
During the second group-stage game, Amajita came up against arch-rivals Nigeria. Games between the two nations are ususally exhilarating.
However, this time it was the Super Falcons who had control of the match with Amajita finding it difficult to breach the Nigerian defence, but they did manage to earn a goalless draw.
During the last group stage match against Burundi, Amajita had to ensure they won in order to book their spot in the semifinals of the tournament and most importantly, to qualify for the World Cup which will be staged in Poland.
Amajita went on to register a 1-0 victory over Burundi courtesy of a Luke le Roux penalty to book a meeting with Senegal in the semifinals and in the process qualifying for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Poland.
The tie against Senegal proved to be much tougher for Amajita, coming up against a Senegalese side that won all of their group stage games.
The Teranga Lions’ physical presence was too much for Amajita, with the South Africans finding it difficult to threaten the Senegal goal in a 1-0 defeat.