Mamelodi Sundowns co head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has explained the difference between domestic and continental football while adding that Bafana Bafana’s 5-0 loss to France is not a true reflection of South African football.
Mngqithi was asked ahead of Sundowns’ final CAF Champions League Group A game against Al Merrikh on Saturday, about the differences between the competitions, and after Bafana’s big loss, was also queried about how it relates to the standard.
But Mngqithi said he would prefer not to reference the French loss, as he didn’t feel the friendly international was a true reflection of the standard of football in South Africa.
“I would really not want to put a lot of reference to the match on Tuesday, because I also don’t think that is a true reflection of what South Africa is capable of,” Mngqithi said in the pre-match press conference.
“I think we are better than what we did in France.”
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Mngqithi said that in the CAFCL, every error can be costly, while there is more room for error in the DStv Premiership.
“The difference (between) the PSL and the Champions League?” Mngqithi continued. “Surprisingly, maybe I give you a few case studies.
“We played against Maniema in the preliminary stages of the competition. I had not heard of that name before.
“It was a team from DRC. That team managed to score two goals against us, and we dominated the match, we should have seen the match without conceding a goal.
“But in the Champions League, one thing that I’ve learnt, I don’t know whether it’s the level of competition or the focus that players in these nations have towards Champions League, but there is no room for error.
“Last year in Egypt, we played against Al Ahly, we dominated the match and played very well, but made two mistakes, which could have been half-chances in South Africa.
“But those two half-chances were punished immediately, and we came back with 2-0. In South Africa, you make as many mistakes sometimes, you can give an opposition, maybe three big chances, and they still don’t score.
“Maniema got small chances, one was a mistake from Mosa, and the other one was from outside the box, which we never expected. And they only had those two chances, and they punished us.
“So if you look at the game that we played against Al Ahly, we made two errors first half, in that match, and out of those two errors, they got two shots at goal.
“One of the errors was in the other half. It was a free-kick we passed to their player, and it was a counterattack. From there it went to our right channel, immediately comes back to the box and Brian Onyango saves it on the line.
“Just small mistakes, in South Africa, maybe with that mistake, they would not have seen that ball coming into your eighteen-area.
“So those are the smaller margins that you can always find in the Champions League that there is just no room for error. We make one silly mistake, you’re punished.
“And at times, that puts a lot of stress and frustration on the players, because they know, they must be very focussed throughout the 90 minutes because one mistake can cost you the game.
“And when we’re playing with that kind of pressure, at times you’re bound to make even more mistakes, but I think our boys are growing in that space, and we are happy with space.”
