Former Orlando Pirates head coach Mike Makaab says it’s difficult to compare Doctor Khumalo and Themba Zwane because both played in different eras.
Mshishi put in a superb display against Algeria, scoring a brace in the exiciting 3-3 draw to underline his importance for Bafana Bafana.
Zwane’s display has once again see debates over his greatness compared Doctor ’16V’ Khumalo erupt on social media and beyond.
However, Makaab, who now works as agent for ProSport International, has explained why it’s difficult to compare players from different eras, using the exampe of Lionel Messi vs Diego Maradona and Pele.
“The safest way to compare eras is to say Mshishi is to this era what Doctor Khumalo was to his era,” Makaab explained on Gagasi FM’s Extra-Time.
“[But it’s] difficult to compare eras, the game has evolved tremendously, technology has incresed exponentially.
“Today you can tell how the player is feeling by monitoring his training sessions, so things have changed dramatically in the sporting world and in football in particular a lot of advancements in technology. So to compare a player from one era and a player from another era is difficult.
“Let me give you a great comparison. Let’s take Lionel Messi and let’s compare him to [Diego] Maradona, and then let’s take Maradona and compare him to Pele.
“If you watched Pele play and you put him next to Messi, you would have to say Messi is the better player only because the game has changed so much. The intensity, the pace at which the game is played, however, if Pele was subject to the infrastructure, the technology, the training advancements that Lionel Messi was subject to from the academy time, then who knows what Pele might have done in this era.
“Pele in his era was the greatest, Maradona in his era, in my opinion, was the greatst. Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo in their era are the greatest, so to compare players from different is eras is not quite fair.
“You can say that Mshishi is today, what the late John ‘Shoes’ Moshoe was in his era so Themba Zwane is top of the pile.”
