27 Jul 2016

A South African online publication, Timeslive.co.za articled penned by one Chumani Bambani on July 25 notes the inner feelings of ABSA Premiership champions, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso 'Jingles' Mosimane about one of Botswana’s finest footballing exports, Mogakolodi ‘Tsotso’ Ngele.

It is some sort of regret from the much acclaimed Sundowns gaffer, known for winning league championships with all the clubs he has coached in his professional coaching career.

He is quoted in the article as feeling as if he failed Ngele after the player moved to BidVest Wits as part of a swap deal that saw Sibusiso Vilakazi join the Brazilians from the Clever Boys over the  weekend.

Ngele has struggled to make the starting eleven regularly ever since moving to the Chlorkoop outfit in a multi-million pula deal from the Rustenburg based Platinum Stars a season ago.

The highly regarded former Uniao Flamengo Santos and Township Rollers extraordinary and gifted midfielder moved to South African high paying league to continue what was previously started by the likes of Itumeleng ‘Tumie’ Duicker, Diphetogo ‘Dipsy’ Selolwane, Mogogi ‘Gino’ Gabonamong, Ofentse ‘Size 10’ Nato, Phenyo ‘Mzambiya’ Mongala, Modiri ‘Carlos’ Marumo and Boitumelo ‘Navara’ Mafoko.

Mosimane is further quoted as hinting that the pressure of playing for a big club like Sundowns played a massive role in Ngele struggling to find his feet at the premiership title holders after his move from Stars.

While the few games Ngele played in showed his touches of brilliance that earned him the pleasure of being bought by the immensely rich Sundowns owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, he could not command a regular start in the star-studded Brazilians side.

His failure to regularly make the starting eleven at Sundowns is comparable to that of Mongala, who also failed to make his position his own after moving to Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates, scoring memorable goals, close in mind being a beauty against arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs.

All these football exports from Botswana are often seen as having all that it takes to play in the best leagues in the world including the ABSA Premiership, but sooner than later, they return home having failed to self-actualise.

In the case of Mongala and Ngele, they can however derive comfort from the fact that they have amongst their medals, league championship ones won at Pirates and Sundowns respectively.

A former coach and a football pundit, Kennedy Simusokwe told BOPA that one of the problems with local football players is they are not used to tough competition often found at the South African top three teams, Pirates, Sundowns and Chiefs.

He said they might do well at smaller teams in the South African top league, where they easily walk into the starting line-up, but then find the tough going at these professionally run top three outfits once they make a move.

Simusokwe further noted the hunger they had to succeed is often found wanting once they are at these top three teams, something different with players from other countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

He said these other African players do not rely solely on natural talent, but go the extra mile, working three times harder to secure and make their places permanent at teams such as Pirates, Sundowns and Chiefs.

Mosimane is further quoted in the Timeslive.co.za article as thinking Ngele could have fought a little bit and he is disappointed that he is gone.

“For me as a coach it is like I failed to get the best out of the boy. You saw at Platinum Stars how good he was. It is like I failed to get the best out of him. But this thing is mutual. 

He also needed to survive and fight‚ but he could not.

 He said he wanted to leave and you can’t keep an unhappy player for long. I was surprised when I found out he wanted to leave. I never knew that he wanted to leave.” The online publication further quotes Mosimane.

Simusokwe meanwhile feels the level of domestic league competitiveness in Botswana could be adding to the failure of local players to withstand the harsh conditions in top leagues, where a position in the starting eleven is not a given.

He felt that although Ngele has gone through all the football development structures, starting from an early age at Flamingos under the tutelage of much respected youth talent developer Saxton Kowa, he did not go the extra mile when it mattered the most at Sundowns.

Having now moved to Wits, a team with less pressure, the hope is the player will recover his scintillating form, which made him one of the best midfielders ever to grace Stars. BOPA