Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has praised the club for their role in developing Malibongwe Khoza for the first team.
Khoza, 20, joined the club’s youth structures as a 12-year-old and rose through the ranks before starring in their DStv Diski Challenge squad.
It appeared that he would be leaving the club at the end of last season but was retained and formed part of their pre-season where he impressed the first-team during their tour of Europe.
He’s since racked up 11 appearances this season and in the last two games under Cardoso, formed a partnership with Rushine de Reuck, who was out of favour in the last two seasons but has profited from injuries to Mothobi Mvala and Grant Kekana this season.
“Regarding Khoza and players of Sundowns, obviously I have to praise the work done in the academy that brought him up and all the coaches who worked with him, coach Manqoba that put him in the [first-team],” Cardoso said.
“For myself, it’s just to keep working with him in order to make him important and make him believe that it’s the team that makes him important, like all the other players because in big spaces defenders become worse, in small spaces they become better.
“In a good organisation, defenders become better, and defensive work is the work of 11 men, not four, and not one – so I’m happy with the work we have been doing together with Mali but also the other ones.
“I think in the last two games you see Rush – quite an interesting level. This is a player who wasn’t playing for some time, so it’s a reason why… people say and it’s correct that we have a squad that is big. Sometimes difficult to manage and work with.
“But it also helps when we miss important players [through injury] but life is like this, football is like this, it gives opportunities at any moment and it’s important that players take that responsibility in hands and get value for themselves because it’s also value for Sundowns.”
Khoza was touted to earn a call to the senior national team by former coach Manqoba Mngqithi before his eventual departure this month.
