Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has explained why he benched the regular starters Khuliso Mudau and Teboho Mokoena in their Betway Premiership opener.
The Brazilians started their league campaign with a convincing 2-0 victory over their crosstown rivals SuperSport United on Tuesday night at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
The coach’s decision to drop Bafana Bafana stars Mudau and Mokoena came a big surprise especially as he also opted to keep the club's captain, Themba Zwane, on the bench.
Speaking to the media after the match, Mngqithi insisted the duo were still crucial players for the Tshwane giants.
However, he noted the challenge of replacing players who had performed admirably in the previous encounter Mbabane Swallows as Mokoena and Mudau had been rested after coming from AFCON qualifiers with Bafana.
He further highlighted the importance of providing opportunities to all players within Sundowns, emphasising the necessity of maintaining a competitive spirit among the squad.
MNGQITHI ON WHY MOKOENA AND MUDAU WERE DROPED FOR SUPERSPORT CLASH
“They are still very important players for the team. They are still going to come in and help us, but after the game of Mbabane, it was very difficult for us to change the team that much because we achieved far more than many other games,” said Mngqithi.
“One would say it was Mbabane anyway, but we have played a lot of these preliminary games before, but we have never achieved 855 passes, seven hundred and something passes completed.
“The highest XG (expected goals) probably in the last 170 matches, the number of shots at goals. I think we had 21 (shots) and 11 of those were on target.
“When you win like that and you are resting some players because of the load they had coming all the way from South Sudan and you are saying they played two 90 minutes, when you go to SuperSport, you say let's continue because sometimes it's important to show these players that we also have confidence in them.
“We are not just using them in the absence of certain players and that culture is going to happen a lot this season, considering we've got so many competitions and it's important that we keep everybody hungry and interested. That's very important.”
