Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes that center-back Mothobi Mvala is back to his best following an impressive run in the side’s Carling Knockout Cup win over Golden Arrows on Tuesday.
Mvala played 90 minutes, his second full game this term as Iqraam Rayners’ sole goal ensured passage for Sundowns to the semi-final of the league cup.
This was the 32 year old’s fifth game overall this season across all competitions after he recovered from a long term injury that saw him miss the majority of the previous campaign where he also lost his place in the senior national team.
The coach told the media after the Arrows win that the defender has been proving he is back on top level especially in the game where he quietened the opposition’s top striker Junior Dion. Cardoso added that Mvala has a strong mentality of a dragon.
“I think today Mothobi proved to everybody that he is in his level,” said Cardoso.
“I remember that I saw him getting injured. He got injured when he played away in Raja Casablanca for the Champions League.
“I was watching that match on the stands because after that match, I came in the club, as you remember. Since then, that was a hard, hard, process and as you remember, also he got a setback, a strong setback when we played Arrows away. And it was a long way for him.
“But do you know what is his name in the locker room? His name is ‘the dragon‘, and that comes also from exactly his mentality. He’s a very strong human being, very strong player, of course.
“And just due to the love that we in the club give to all our players, especially the ones that are injured or on injured processes, and due to the work, of course, that he did himself by giving a lot of effort to his recovery, and the work that was done by the medical department was able to bring him to the level where he is now.
“In football, moments appear like that when Grant [Kekana] got injured, when Keegan [Johannes] got injured, of course more opportunities came for Mothobi.
‘Mothobi waited for his chance’
Cardoso added that Mvala had to wait for his time, but has impressed when his moment came, especially in the recent match against Junior Dion.
“Mothobi is a strong player. He never gives up. He was waiting his moment. He knows that in Sundowns it’s like that. There’s a moment that will appear. It can take one month, two months, three months, but it will appear,” he continued.
“And I think he is standing himself by the examples he gives and the match of today the performance of today. I think is very solid against a very strong striker that is very clever on the way he goes on the space, is very clever also inside the box very, very clever.
“Of course we studied those movements because we suffered recently with those movements from him, we studied very well. We gave all the tips for the players to absorb, and they did very well.
“I think both of them played very well, and I think he’s back. Let’s see, of course, what will happen in the future.”