Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi has backed up his comments that the Premier Soccer League might be bigger than the African Cup of Nations, saying he’ll stand by what he said.
Last week, The Buccaneers coach was asked to explain why Gabadinho Mhango was not in the squad to face AmaZulu in the Nedbank Cup despite his brilliant performances at the recent AFCON and insisted that he’s got a lot of competition at the club and needs to earn his place in training.
Ncikazi also seemed to have questioned whether the South African league is bigger than Africa’s elite tournament and now tried to clarify his remarks.
“Let me put clarity on the whole [Mhango] issue, which made a lot of empty noise without being informed and maybe lessons from me,” he said when asked by iDiski Times whether Mhango would be in the squad for Sunday’s CAF Confederations Cup match against Saoura.
“We must listen ears and don’t assume and use the facts in front of me. The Gabadinho Mhango question was why was he not in the team and in my explanation, I used the AFCON.
“When you look at the teams, the goalkeeper from Ivory Coast, their Nr. 1 is playing for JDR, the goalkeeper from Gabon, their Nr. 1 is Nr. 3 at AmaZulu and is not making Nr. 1 at AmaZulu. The captain of Malawi, with respect, he can’t make the 20 at AmaZulu. The striker of Malawi, Mayaba is playing at Polokwane City, Sangare is making the side at Burkina Faso but is not a regular at Chippa – just to give you a few examples.
“Relating to the question that was asked ‘why is Mhango doing well at Malawi and not at Pirates’, I said maybe the competition in the PSL teams is higher than the competition in some teams at AFCON – maybe excluding the four teams that came first, second, third and first. Salah of Egypt plays for Liverpool, Mane of Senegal plays for Liverpool, Aboubakar of Cameroon has moved to the middle east, Nr. 4 have Aston Villa’s Traore.
“When you look at what I said before and look at what I’m getting at – if a player is playing for his national team it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a regular for his club. Sometimes we think with our hearts than our minds, the facts are in front but people are just refusing to look at the facts.
“And I’m not going to change from what I said because it’s what I think and the facts are backing me up.”
Ncikazi also spoke said that he doesn’t know yet whether Mhango will make Sunday’s squad for Pirates CAF Confederations Cup match.
“But the issue of Mhango, he’s just here, he’s ready, he’s competition,” he added.
“Will we see him tomorrow? We’re still having a training session after this [press conference] and we’ll make a decision thereafter.
“If he’s there, good for him, good for the team. If he’s not there, other players will represent the team with pride.”
