Mamelodi Sundowns co head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has praised the Nedbank Cup for making dreams come true for many players and coaches.
The Nedbank Cup, is South Africa’s FA Cup, the only tournament that involves teams from all levels of South African football.
The round of 32 that kicks off in February features all 16 DStv Premiership teams, eight teams from the GladAfrica Championship and eight teams from the SAFA leagues, i.e. the regional ABC Motsepe and SAB Leagues.
“Just like any other FA Cup, I think it’s a cup of dreams,” Mngqithi told the club’s media department.
“It’s a cup where boys from rural areas from the villages also believe they’ve got a chance to be snatched by big teams, they’ve got a chance to upset some big teams, they have got a chance to showcase their talent and be seen by big clubs in the country.
“And because of that motivational factor it makes every team that you are playing against at this level to be very competitive and very difficult to plan against, and you must know most of them will be playing off the cuff because they they are intrinsically motivated to play in this cup.
“And every team that is in the last 32 believes they’ve got a chance to go through to the next round and go through to the next round until the end.
“So the cup itself makes it a very interesting contest for every competitor, which makes every player to believe, ‘I’ve got a chance to achieve something here, either I achieve by getting my team through to the next round or I achieve by being seen by some of the big teams and get an opportunity.’
“There are many players that came from this Nedbank Cup or the Nedbank Keyona cup. Most players that we have in the league have come from that space, so we can not take anything for granted when it comes to the Nedbank Cup.
“It is one cup that is very exciting, brings a lot of fire, brings a lot of surprises, and you don’t want to be amongst those victims in this cup, because this cup will always give you a thing or two.”
