Siwelele FC coach Godfrey Mosoetsa says credit should be given to the side’s goalkeeper coach Mswazi Tshabalala for Jody February being able to keep clean sheets and save penalties.
Mosoetsa’s sentiments come on the back of Siwelele’s progression to the last eight round of the Carling Knockout Cup at the expense of Polokwane City. Siwelele with 10 men held City for 120 minutes with February going on to save two penalties in the shootout.
The coach says though he understands players are important, the people helping them to be at their best also deserve mentions and even accolades.
“Credit must also be given to other technical staff members because sometimes you come here as a coach, take the credit, but there are a lot of people who are doing wonderful work behind the scenes like the goalkeeper coach,” said Mosoetsa.
“We’ll talk about Jody keeping a clean sheet, but who’s training Jody? You talk about the players being able to play one man down up until the 120 minutes. Who’s training those players? Who’s making sure that they can be able to sustain that? So, there are a lot of people.
“Sometimes it’s us coaches given the opportunity to come and talk here, but there are a lot of people who are doing dirty work behind the scenes. So, it’s a team effort, and this is the second time I’m saying this. I wish there could be an award for the technical team, not just for the player. We know players are more important, but there are people who are putting a lot of work behind the scenes, and they deserve something as well.”
The coach further revealed that Siwelele practiced over 100 penalties leading up to the game at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
“I think we took throughout the week almost over 100 penalties, but the atmosphere is different when you come to a cup game,” he added.
“You could see some of the guys. Now it’s no longer easy to say so and so and so and so and so and so take the penalties. You leave it up to them to volunteer and say, you know, I’ll come and take it.”