New look Sihlangu: Throwing the baby out with the water
Selon cet article, le nouveau coach venu de U20, sans une expérience des "A" et qui depuis 2008 année de relégation du club qu'il coachait, n'a plus coaché en division élite, voudrait faire le ménage en jetant le bébé et l'eau de bain, c'est-à-dire il prend des jeunes et voudrait se passer des expérimentés comme Denis Masina, leur star, jouant en Afrique du Sud, ancien joueur de Supersport et d'Orlando Pirates.
Nous savons nous-mêmes que nous ne sommes plus ces léopards qui font peur mais dans notre catégorie des équipes les moins bien classées, il y en a qui ont peur de nous, de Mputu et de Mazembe. Le journaliste que les jeunes ne tireront aucune leçon si les Sihlangu doivent perdre par un score de cricket.
http://www.times.co.sz/Sports-News/34195.html
Caleb Ngwenya the new Sihlangu caretaker coach has been thrown into the deep end by the National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS).
The announcement was made by FA CEO Frederick Mngomezulu, a man who has lived to see many absurd decisions made by the elite football mother body, since taking the position in 2005.
The Mbabane Midas City mentor who has carved a good reputation with the Under-17 and Under-20 squads will lead Sihlangu next week Friday against DRC who will parade 19 international players. They include TP Mazembe red hot frontman Tresor Mputu who has just returned from a one-year suspension.
Caleb has accepted the huge task bestowed upon him by the FA, whether out of loyalty or what but he is now the man that the media will be sticking their knives into if the team does not improve.
The new coach was quick to state that the nation should not expect results so soon, but forgot about that, because just like the FA executive his success will be measured by the performance of the squad. It has been huge jump for the coach who has not coached in the Premier League since May 2008 when his Midas City side was relegated. The highest he has reached has been with the Under-20 squad during the 2010 Zone VI tournament held in the country. His assistant Ernest Mavuso an unknown figure in local football landscape has questionable credentials at this level too.
The interesting point here is that an inexperienced coach with a team of many novices will have to face an awakening giant in DRC. The squad announced on Wednesday that they have not been tested at this level.
revolutionalisation
I know that some of you will be quick to remind the media how we have been advocating for the revolutionalisation of the senior national team by bringing young players with bigger ambitions.
We have not changed; especially my colleagues here at the Times Sports Desk.
However, young players should be those who are playing at a higher level and should be active, hence we have no problem with players like Maqhawe Dlamini one of the six from Midas City which is ironically the same team coached by Ngwenya. The youngster has been with the Under-20, 23 and was capped at Sihlangu early this year in a friendly against Botswana at the Mavuso Sports Centre.
deserves
His teammate Mthunzi Mkhontfo is a future prospect who deserves a chance in the national team, but the same cannot be said of players like Maqhawe Mamba, Thabiso Gumbi and Manzini Sundowns’ forgotten striker Phinda Dlamini who hardly featured in the club this season. In fact, the player is currently held up at school in South Africa. This is really not on. We are not playing Lesotho or Seychelles here but a country that has won the CHAN tournament in 2009 in Sudan.
However, no one will fault him for dropping Mxolisi ‘Stopper’ Mthethwa and Mbuso Gina who have had their time. The squad still requires the services of players like Ndoda Mthethwa, Mfanafuthi Bhembe and Dennis ‘Yuki’ Masina against DRC because more than anything the game will need a bit of experience. To go into the game with the country’s only experienced playmaker in Manqoba ‘Dunga’ Kunene one of the best players during Obed ‘Foreman’ Mlotsa’s coaching regime is shattering.
Revolution does not mean dismantling, especially because even the so called junior squads have not been active in recent days to say they have gained valuable international exposure.
Sandile Ginindza is the best in his position in the league and has proven himself well, but it is a high risk for the coach to have two players as his understudies.
forced
Imagine Sandile pulling out during warm-up due to injury and Caleb will be forced to go for either Maqhawe or Sanda. It would be a disaster really.
While we want to build for the future, we should be careful not to destroy the future as the players will learn nothing from losing with a cricket score.
The coach himself has a lot learn at this level where he will have to manage big egos.
They both lack the capacity or experience to handle big egos, which exist at Sihlangu. Ngwenya would still have to undergo a major transformation from being junior squad coach to a senior national team mentor. It does not happen overnight, and Nigeria’s Samson Sia Sia who has a rich track record working with junior squads failed to qualify the Super Eagles for next year’s AFCON finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. He has been fired amidst reports that he had a fall-out with some of the senior players. They were all complaining about the way he treated them, accusing him of failing to adjust from being a junior coach to a high level coach. The same might characterise Caleb’s reign.
He is not to blame though’ because he did not select himself. But it was the FA that made the choice, that they should have at least made in April when they disbanded all national squad coaches. He should have used the remaining AFCON 2012 qualifiers to learn, so that by the time he faced the Congolese his team would have matured