Young Africans SC head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has applauded the standard of Tanzanian football and their journalists compared to Mzansi.
Mngqithi has had a dream start at Young Africans where he has already won a trophy which was the Community Shield Cup beating the biggest rivals Simba SC before winning all first six league matches to occupy the 1st place in the NBC Premier League.
The former Golden Arrows mentor however came up short in the clash against their arch-rivals Simba in the derby on Saturday, going down 2-1 despite having taken the lead for their first defeat of the season.
Speaking with the media, Mngqithi was clear that marking wise matches, Tanzania is above South Africa and went as far as comparing the supporters. The 2016 CAF Champions League winner mentioned that he is not used to seeing so many journalists ahead of the football match.
“I must be honest, I think this derby is highly marketed and in South Africa we hardly get so many journalists at any match including the final of any competition, we hardly have so many journalists, so much interest from the supporters, so much vibrancy inside the stadium,” Mngqithi told the media.
“In South Africa, we are used to being supported when the team is playing well; when the team is not playing well the stadium is very quiet but here the vibe, the atmosphere is always driving the team to give a little bit more.
“I am not saying this because I am buying your faces, but I think Tanzanian football is doing a whole lot of good work in terms of social media and journalism.
“The preparation of the teams and the pitches have also improved, so there are a whole lot of positives that I can give to Tanzania on how they present this product which is the Tanzanian product – I think it’s in a very good space.
“The derby itself is on another level. I am looking forward to what will happen tomorrow; I wish it were a bigger stadium.”