The 23-year-old, who has previously been loaned out to Black Leopards and Richards Bay FC, is getting more minutes on the pitch this campaign after a good pre-season and is working tirelessly behind the scenes to play ahead of players such as Hlompho Kekana, Andile Jali, Sammy Seabi and Rivaldo Coetzee in central midfield. Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane catches up with the diminutive midfielder who talks about the tough competition he has to get into the starting line-up and why he does not want to go out on loan again.
Tshepang Mailwane: Hola, Sphelele, and thanks for your time. How did the team take the defeat to Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend, which was your first league loss of the campaign?
Sphelele Mkhulise: I think we played well, but we did not convert our chances. We had the possession and we had more shots than them, but the only problem is that we did not convert our chances. It was disappointing to lose at home and obviously it’s our first league loss, so we are very disappointed. But I think we will bounce back in the Telkom Knockout this Sunday.
TM: Do you agree with your coach Pitso Mosimane that you don’t need to beat Chiefs to win the league?
SM: The league is a marathon. There’s still 22 games for us to play. We just need to keep on pushing and believing. We will win more games and maybe they will lose. We have to win our games and focus on ourselves. We just have to work on converting our chances. We are playing entertaining football… the only thing is that we have to convert our chances.
TM: Do you feel Sundowns has more experience, considering you’ve won more league titles than your rivals?
SM: We have the experience. The guys know how to win the league, the coach knows how to win the league. So, the experience we have will help us a lot.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 30 October 2019 من Soccer Laduma.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 30 October 2019 من Soccer Laduma.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
We have a problem
For this reason, Clinton Larsen was shown the door as head coach, but still, under new mentor Norman Mapeza, the struggle persists, although they did win two games on the trot recently.
They have the character
Cut Lehlohonolo Seema’s skin andhe’ll probably bleed green andwhite – such has been the man’s loyalty to Bloemfontein Celtic. Born and bred in neighbouring Lesotho, the Mangaung outfit is a club that’s always had a pull factor on him. So much that it is they who pulled him from obscure Bantu United from the mountainous kingdom in 1998, and he would go on to represent the club until 2006 when the allure of Orlando Pirates, understandably, proved too great a pull factor. Yet even a five-year spell with the Soweto giants, which included a season-long loan stint at Mpumalanga Black Aces, would not prevent him being pulled back in the direction of Siwelele, albeit to begin a coaching journey in the junior ranks. The next step was to become an assistant, a job he performed with aplomb, before being called on to take the hotseat together with John Maduka after the departure of Steve Komphela at the tail end of 2018. Much against general expectation, the duo has done fairly well, if Celtic’s off-field troubles of the recent past are to be taken into consideration. Soccer Laduma’s Beaver Nazo sat down with Seema to discuss this, that, and the other.
They are on another level
Before signing for Mamelodi Sundowns last season,Lyle Lakay knew that he would be used as a leftback and not in his preferred left wing position, something that he surprisingly did not have a problem with. In his first season with the club last term, he played a key role as they went onto win an unprecedented ninth Absa Premiership league title. This season has been a bit of a slow one for Lakay, who has been used mostly as a substitute, but there’s still a lot of football to be played both locally and on the continent, so he has time to fight for his place in the starting line-up. In this interview, the former Cape Town City and Bloemfontein Celtic player chats to Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane about his time at the Tshwane giants so far, their chances of winning the CAF Champions League and why he believes they can close the gap on current Kaizer Chiefs, who have been in fine form since the start of the campaign.
Siyag bhoza
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Jose Is Back, Will He Last?
Jose Mourinho has re-turned with a bang! Not many would have thought Tottenham Hotspur would sack Mauricio Pochettino after the Argentine led them to the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League final, and even fewer would have thought chairman Daniel Levy would replace him with Jose Mourinho.
It Was Challenging
Imagine the scene…you are playing a game of your life, fighting to qualify for the Olympic Games through the lifeline of the third and fourth place play-off.
No Disrespect To Chiefs, But…
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He Is Not Personal
He may not be gettingregular game-timedomestically with Bidvest Wits, but attacking midfielder Gift Motupa is making a name for himself in this season’s CAF Confederation Cup. The 25-year-old player has bagged six goals in the campaign so far, inspiring the Clever Boys to the group stages of a CAF club competition for the first time in their history. It has not been the same in the domestic league though, with just one start so far and one goal. Having done so well in the Confederation Cup, he will no doubt be hoping that coach Gavin Hunt will give him more opportunities to play in the Absa Premiership as the Braamfontein-based outfit looks to challenge for the title. In this interview with Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane, Motupa expresses his excitement about qualifying for
That's Me Wherever I Go
As a coach, former Kaizer Chiefs striker Wedson Nyirenda prides himself on being blessed with the mentality of a winner. So much that when talking about his past achievements in the realm of coaching, you can almost never miss the sparkle in his eye, and often this trip down memory lane will be accompanied by a smile that tells a story of contentment and achievement. He has built up a reputation, across all three countries he has worked in, of turning socalled ordinary teams into respected outfits. He did it with Baroka FC, helping them to annex the 2018 Telkom Knockout trophy much against many people’s expectations. However, the going has since gotten tougher, and the Limpopo side is (still) struggling to score goals this season. What is going on? Is Nyirenda going to jump ship and go back to his previous role as Zambia national team coach, as the rumour mill seems to suggest? Nyirenda provides the answers in this chat with Soccer Laduma’s Beaver Nazo.
