Cape Town City captain Thamsanqa Mkhize praised Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker after their Carling Knockout Cup glory.
Mkhize is one of the longest-serving players at City and has lifted two trophies with the club – the 2016/17 Telkom Knockout (now known as the Carling Knockout Cup) and two years later he lifted MTN8.
The veteran defender has been watching their city rivals Stellenbosch growing since they gained promotion in the 2018/19 season and before lifting the CKO this month they’d also reached two cup semi-finals.
Speaking to iDiski Times’ journalists Rob Delport and Sinethemba Makonco, the City captain said he was left impressed with what Barker has done at Stellies, especially with the young players in the team. He also was pleased for former City goalkeeper, Sage Stephens.
“For me, personally, I was happy. I was happy because of the players they have also that I’ve played with, especially for Sage, Sage Stephens has been doing well for them,” Mkhize told iDiski Times exclusively.
“Also we mustn’t shy away in not recognising what Steve Barker is doing with his team.
“I had a chat with someone about AmaZulu and Galaxy, I said Galaxy will win the game because those people, when you have played in a semi-final or you’ve played in a final and you lose it and you still get another opportunity to play that game, you want to go all out and be able to reach the final.
“For me in my mind I was thinking Stellenbosch is going to play with TS Galaxy, those people they lost in the semi-final, because those two teams, they had an opportunity to reach the final, but they lost it but look how far they’ve come.
“For [what] Steve Barker is doing there, I think he must do it more because looks like it is working for him.
“I’m happy for his youngsters because they’re showing maturity.”
