When friends become rivals
TKO: MNGQITHI AND KOMPHELA NOW ON OPPOSING BENCHES
Manqoba Mngqithi says his friendship with Golden Arrows coach Steve Komphela will have to take a backseat this afternoon, when Mamelodi Sundowns visit Abafana Bes’thende at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium to contest a place in the Telkom Knockout final.
The Sundowns assistant coach is full of praise for Komphela, branding him an “unlucky” coach and suggesting that while he would love to see the former Kaizer Chiefs coach’s fortunes turn around, Komphela cannot reach the final at his expense.
“Steve has been doing a good job and he is just unlucky, he has been in the final with Manning Rangers, at Chiefs he has been in the final twice but he has just been that unfortunate coach. At Maritzburg United he did well,” said Mngqithi.
“It is just a pity that I cannot accept that he must go to the final via me. He is a big friend of mine but honestly speaking, we have a responsibly to our supporters and to the club. We will never make it easy for anyone because we have a challenge ahead and we believe that they will put up a good fight. The fact that they have not lost at home gives them a little bit of an edge but we believe we are a bigger team and we can deal with the challenges ahead and come out victorious,” he added.
Komphela has been coaching for close to two decades and cup success has eluded him. Be that as it may, Mngqithi says Komphela has done well wherever he has been.
“It is unfortunate that our job is a very thankless one and up until you can put something on the table, people will not respect you. Steve has done a tremendous job in all of the teams he has coached.
At Bloemfontein Celtic he transformed a team that had challenges, he did exceptionally well at Rangers and he put Maritzburg in the top eight and gave a good account of himself. At Chiefs he stood up and he was building towards a championship team but in our society we only define success with something on the table.”