Why Manqoba Mngqithi relishes facing Chiefs, Pirates & Sundowns | OneFootball

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Mngqithi explains why he relishes clashing against PSL giants

Photo: Gerhard Duraan /BackPagePix

Golden Arrows head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has shed light on why he relishes squaring off against the traditional big teams in the PSL.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns mentor recently guided Abafana Bes'thende to the semi-final of the Carling Knockout Cup, with what he perceives as a young squad.

When quizzed on whether playing in the last-four of the League Cup will enhance the maturity of his young players, the 54-year-old tactician dismissed the notion, stating that he prefers character building against the juggernauts of the South African topflight.

“There are games of magnitude where you play to build the character of the players. If you notice, I hardly introduce young players in small matches,” said Mngqithi.

"I introduce young players against Chiefs, against Sundowns, against Sekhukhune, against Pirates, because those for me are the moments where if a player has played against Pirates or Sundowns or Chiefs or all these big teams - then the player starts to believe that we have fought with these people and they never troubled us.

"So, anybody else is somebody we can beat and we have already played such kinds of matches and these youngsters have shown the quality they have.

Mngqithi went on to highlight that Arrows have a representative in the South African under-17 national team due to his man management of youngsters.

“We already have [Alwande] Booysen in the under-17 national team that is going to the World Cup, as a result of the games that we have given him and now he starts to believe. Somebody may ask why we let the boy go now when we need him because we really need him and he is a really big option for us,” he added.

"But for me the World Cup stage is also going to help us in his development. He is no longer going to look at himself as a youngster, he is going to start thinking, ‘If I can go to that World Cup, maybe Bafana Bafana must start looking at me as well and it’s what I would like to see from the youngsters.