Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has praised the quality of Kaizer Chiefs’ young players, admitting he would love to have them in his team.
Mngqithi’s side hammered Amakhosi 4-0 at a sold-out Calabash, running away with the scoreline in the first half.
While the Sundowns coach has a host of quality and Bafana Bafana internationals at his disposal, Nasreddine Nabi has featured some of the younger and less experienced players in his line-ups.
After the match, Mngqithi hailed the quality of the likes of Mduduzi Shabalala, Wandile Duba and Mfundo Vilakazi, saying he would love to have them in his team before also sending a warning about putting too much pressure on their shoulders.
“I don’t want to sound bad but I think the youngsters that Kaizer Chiefs has brought into their first team are very good boys,” he told journalists.
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“Shabalala is a big factor in the game. He also got some very good moments today. Duba played exceptionally well. This is the feeling I have when I looked at these boys.
“Vilakazi, when he’s given a chance, they are all very good football players.
“But the biggest mistake that you can make with those young players is to put the load of a team as big as Kaizer Chiefs on their shoulders.
“But honestly speaking, those are exceptionally gifted players, I would love to have them in my team, I don’t want to lie to you.
“Maybe the people we target, we don’t target youngsters, we target senior players because we know the shortcoming they would have. But these youngsters, I don’t want to lie to you, they are all very impressive.
“I know the coach is probably forced to play because they are the best players they have at the moment. It’s just my fear that the load and the pressure is on their shoulders, it might probably break some of them down.
“But I’m still very impressed with how the coach and his team have played these boys because I think they are very influential. In almost all the results that Chiefs got, a youngster was involved.”
