Mngqithi congratulates Maluleka on Sundowns return
'We believe it was important for him to get a goal in this match,' said the Sundowns co-head coach.
George Maluleka is back in shape at Mamelodi Sundowns. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/Backpagepix.
After referee Ahmad Heeralall blew his whistle to signal full-time in Mamelodi Sundowns’ Caf Champions League match win over Al-Merrikh, almost everyone in the team went to George Maluleka to hug and congratulate him for his stellar display on his comeback.
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He opened the scoring and inspired Downs to a 3-0 win to extend their points to 16 in Group A.
Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi said the goal will give Maluleka some relief and confidence, and he is likely to retain his place in the team.
It might have seemed as though the former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder was frozen out at Masandawana, but Mngqithi has revealed that on more than one occasion, Maluleka would be selected for the match-day squad and then suffer an injury during warm-up.
“One must congratulate George for the goal that he scored because we believe it was important for him to get a goal in this match. He was working very hard and we saw how much weight he has lost,” said Mngqithi.
Sundowns’ strikers have been going through a bit of a goal drought, with Kermit Erasmus being one of those, but he also raised his hand and scored as a substitute, much to the relief of his mentors.
“Kermit as well, he has been trying hard and ended up being over-anxious. It is not nice for a striker to not get a goal in too long but when he got that goal, it gave us confidence that he will now focus more on playing the game than on scoring,” said Mngqithi.
“With Peter Shalulile, there was a goal drought at some stage and we had to try and work very hard in bringing him back and making sure that he starts scoring and now that he has started scoring, we are confident that we are going to have a very healthy competition in that space.”
