‘I can substitute you immediately’: Sundowns coach Mngqithi is against showboating

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has spoken out strongly against the popular South African football phenomenon of showboating, saying he will substitute a player if he indulges in such theatrics unnecessarily.

Mngqithi made it clear he is not a fan of players showboating immediately after their teams have taken the lead or when it is clear a victory is imminent. Downs' coach is calling for a shift in the approach to the practice in local football and for more emphasis to be put on scoring goals. 

“It needs a big paradigm shift because in our society we have accepted that after we have taken a lead, probably it is an opportunity for showboating and doing all these tricks and it [has become] acceptable,” Mngqithi said as Sundowns prepared for Saturday's Carling Knockout final against Magesi FC at Free State Stadium (6pm). 

“Everybody think you have done enough when you have won the match and you have also had some nice tricks and made fools of opponents. I regard opponents as opponents and not as enemies. 

“I have always believed you want to beat opponents so next time they know who you are — not as an enemy but as an opponent.” 

Mngqithi said he is inclined to pulling off a player who engages in showboating. 

“I don’t want to make a laughing stock of you, you will see most of my players hardly do all these tricks after we have taken the lead because I can substitute you immediately.

“What excites me is seeing the ball touching the back of the net — I like that a lot. I have always been like that from time immemorial.

“The reason I became a football coach is because I wanted to influence a team to try to create a lot of goalscoring opportunities.

“No matter how good a game can be sometimes, I have been in football for enough years to know that you can dominate a game and everybody is excited, you were leading 1-0 and in the last minute the opponent can equalise and then what?

“For me goals are the determining factor of the results and we should be targeting making sure we play to score as many goals as we can. If we say we are better than the opponents, it is because we can score more than them.” 

Mngqithi said having greater possession in a game is positive but it must not be in the wrong areas of the field. 

“I don’t think possession is enough without creating a lot of scoring opportunities because when you look at possession sometimes is in all the wrong areas.

“You had so much possession because the opponents were sitting deep and you were playing in front of them and enjoying [yourself] all the time with as many passes in front of them. 

“But that does not mean you managed to break down their strategy they [employed] to make sure they don’t concede a lot of goals. As a coach you must say, 'What did I bring to make sure that they even when they were trying to put a low block, I still managed to make my way past and force a goal?'”