Mbuli: No One Is Benefiting From This

By Malose Wa Ga Lamola 

Thinasonke Mbule, head coach of the University of Western Cape and Banyana Banyana's second-in-command, speaks with ShakingInk about the lessons learned from the recently concluded COSAFA tournament in Polokwane, the upcoming Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco, and the difficulties that local teams face during the long preseason due to international fixtures.

South Africa lost 2-1 to Namibia in the COSAFA tournament final on Sunday afternoon. Mbuli believes Banyana Banyana didn't win their record night regional title, but the competition taught them crucial things.


“COSAFA gave us the platform to look at other players. Yes, we wanted to win, but seeing the younger players doing so well was a good thing for the team—we now have a bigger pool to select from for other upcoming tournaments.” Said Mbuli.

The 2022 African champions utilized the COSAFA tournament to prepare for the upcoming WAFCON competition. 'The Bull,' as Mbuli is affectionately called, claims that the COSAFA tournament assisted the technical team in determining players' suitability for the continental showpiece, and that they offered more players minutes to broaden their pool for selection.

Related Article: She Can Still Help Banyana 

“For WAFCON preparations, we gave other players game minutes (time), which was also good for them—mind you, some had two to three weeks of preseason with their teams; we pushed them under those conditions (playing 5 games in 12 days.)” Mbuli emphasized. 

With Banyana Banyana's hectic schedule, teams in the domestic league face the price of unannounced long preseason breaks. Contrary to common belief, teams with players on national tean duty will benefit the most since their players will be active while clubs without representatives in the Banyana camp are on ice, Mbuli claims it affects all teams. According to Mbuli, the uncertainty surrounding the return of the Hollywoodbets Super League is more nuanced than it appears.

"The long break doesn't only affect the teams without national team players; it affects everyone—it affects the teams periodization plan. We are assuming it will kick off immediately after WAFCON, but we don’t have the kickoff date. Some teams finished earlier than others (October)—that's 5 months—that's a long break. 

Most teams hire fields for training and games—I don’t think they have money to do that without fixtures."



“We are blessed as Universities with facilities, and maybe one or two teams — 
we didn’t have the long break but we are forced to be creative and innovative as coaches, this is not the normal pre season- But also the delay is giving us time to improve in the areas we felt we didn’t do well last season.” Mbuli sealed.

@Lamola_Herold 

Comments

Post a Comment