Latest news with #ManqobaMngqithi
IOL News
28-06-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Transforming Golden Arrows: Manqoba Mngqithi's ambitious plans for 2025/26
Golden Arrows Manqoba Mngqithi is settling back in KZN following his return to the club. Photo: Backpagepix Image: Backpagepix Manqoba Mngqithi has committed to building a long-term project at Golden Arrows, with wholesale changes expected at the club ahead of the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season. The 54-year-old coach, who returned to the KwaZulu-Natal outfit in March following his departure from Mamelodi Sundowns in December, has wasted little time in reshaping the squad and technical team. Arrows ended the previous campaign in 12th position, securing 31 points from 28 matches. Mngqithi's return to the club that helped launch his professional coaching career has signalled a renewed sense of ambition in Durban. After spending over a decade at Sundowns, where he played a significant role in their domestic dominance, his decision to rejoin Arrows indicates a desire to build something sustainable. In one of the club's recent documentaries, Mngqithi outlined his vision, which includes the dream of delivering Arrows' first-ever league title—adding to the 2009 MTN8 triumph, which remains the club's only major trophy to date. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading His long-standing connection with the club has been a driving force behind his commitment to the project. Behind the scenes, changes are already being implemented. Arrows have brought in Yardaan Valodia as part of their technical team. The 20-year-old analyst arrives from Mamelodi Sundowns and was part of the South Africa U20 setup that won the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Cairo last month. Valodia, one of the youngest performance analysts in the country, joined Sundowns at the start of last season and quickly adapted to the demands of the elite level. His close working relationship with Mngqithi appears to have played a role in his move to KwaZulu-Natal. The decision to bring in such a young yet experienced figure points to Mngqithi's intention to modernise Arrows' technical approach, blending experience with innovation and data-driven planning—an approach he was exposed to during his tenure at Chloorkop. MANQOBA MNGQITHI Next season, Golden Arrows will be a team you have never seen before. You will even doubt yourselves that you are part of that team. My biggest dream is to win a League title with a small team. I want Golden Arrows to win the PSL league trophy next season. I… — Constitution First 🇿🇦 (@Constitution_94) June 8, 2025
France 24
12-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Sundowns must adapt to less possession, warns coach Cardoso
The Pretoria outfit are outsiders in Group F with Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund expected to advance to the knockout phase in the United States at the expense of Sundowns and South Korean side Ulsan. "We are used to controlling matches in the South African league," the 53-year-old Portuguese said of a club that recently won the national championship an eighth consecutive time. "Our possession can be 70 percent, sometimes even more," he told the South African media before departing for North America with a 26-strong squad. "Now we must prepare mentally to adapt to situations where our opponents will have the majority of possession. I doubt we will be able to control games like we regularly do in South Africa." Cardoso picked out Dortmund as a team to present a different type of challenge from the opposition Sundowns are used to at home and in Africa. "Dortmund play a very high tempo, aggressive style, which is typical of German football," said the coach, who has worked in Portugal, Ukraine, France, Spain and Greece. Cardoso moved to Africa in 2024, winning the Tunisian title with Esperance and taking them to the CAF Champions League final, which they lost to Al Ahly of Egypt. Sundowns, Ahly, Esperance and Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca, who have won 20 continental Champions League titles between them, are the African representatives at the revamped 32-team Club World Cup from June 14. Sacked by Esperance last year following indifferent domestic form, the Portuguese was hired by Sundowns after they axed local coach Manqoba Mngqithi having lost to minnows Magesi in a knockout competition final. 'Our Lionel Messi' Cardoso took Sundowns to the league title, but a surprise FA Cup semi-final loss to Kaizer Chiefs dashed hopes of a South African double. An even bigger disappointment came in the Champions League, where Sundowns eliminated Esperance and Ahly only to lose the final to Pyramids, an Egyptian club competing for only the second time. "The belief that African clubs lack organisation, especially when defending, is untrue," insists Cardoso. But it was a series of defensive blunders against Pyramids in Pretoria and Cairo that cost Sundowns a chance to win the Champions League a second time after their 2016 triumph. Slack marking allowed Pyramids to snatch an added-time equaliser in South Africa, and a weak clearance and more poor marking led to the goals that gave the Egyptians a 2-1 second-leg victory. Cardoso has chosen a squad including 20 South Africans, two Brazilians, a Chilean, a Ugandan, a Zimbabwean and a Namibian. Reserve goalkeeper Denis Onyango from Uganda is the oldest at 40 and South African winger Kutlwano Letlhaku the youngest at 19. First choice shot stopper Ronwen Williams saved four penalties in a 2024 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final shootout against Cape Verde. Khuliso Mudau is a polished full-back, Teboho Mokoena an aggressive midfielder with a powerful shot and Brazilian forward Lucas Ribeiro won the South African league's Golden Boot last season with 16 goals. But a lot of South African attention at the Club World Cup will centre on a midfielder who did not feature in the Champions League title decider, 35-year-old Themba Zwane. Former Sundowns star Joel Masilela was furious at the exclusion of Zwane. "He is our Lionel Messi and should have started or come off the bench," Masilela said.
TimesLIVE
02-06-2025
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Should coach Cardoso be fired after Sundowns' loss in the Champions League final?
It might seem crazy to ask whether a coach who has just steered his team to the final of the Caf Champions League, but lost, should keep his job. However, there are heated discussions on social media as fans debate the point. Portuguese Miguel Cardoso, who arrived at Sundowns in December to replace Manqoba Mngqithi — with the Brazilians' battles in the group stage a major reason for the change — took Downs to the final, as he had with Esperance de Tunis in his previous campaign. As with Esperance, who lost 1-0 on aggregate to Al Ahly, Cardoso could not steer Sundowns to the trophy, which would have been their first Champions League title since winning Africa's premier interclub competition in 2016. It was their first final in the competition since then. Many will argue Downs were unfortunate in their 3-2 aggregate final defeat against Egypt's Pyramids FC. In the first leg at Loftus Versfeld two Saturdays ago, Walid El Karti's equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw came deep in added time, in the final seconds. In the second leg two superb saves off his legs by Pyramids goalkeeper Ahmed El Shenawy denied Tashreeq Matthews and Peter Shalulile almost certain goals.
TimesLIVE
30-05-2025
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
'Anything is possible in South Africa,' Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi after 'second half' match with SuperSport
Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has described the 45-minute contest with SuperSport United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Thursday as strange and unheard of. Mngqithi said he hopes it does not set a bad precedent where clubs will in future switch off lights when results are not going their way hoping to complete matches later. SuperSport narrowly survived the dreaded promotion playoffs with a 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows to officially mark the end of the Betway Premiership campaign. This second half, which ended without goals, was a continuation of the match abandoned at halftime three months ago due to Lucas Moripe's lights going out amid a power failure with the score level at 1-1 at halftime. At that time, SuperSport opened the scoring after four minutes through the effort of Christian Saile and that goal was cancelled out in the 24th minute by Velemseni Ndwandwe for Arrows. 'Anything is possible in South Africa,' - Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi after the match against SuperSport. WATCH full interview ➡️➡️➡️ — Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) May 30, 2025 SuperSport, whose future remains in doubt with rumours the club is for sale, are equal on 27 points with Cape Town City but have a better goal difference and have saved their status in the PSL. This means City, who finished 15th, go to the playoffs where they will play against Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) sides Orbit College and Casric Stars — pending an arbitration involving MFC champions Durban City — to save their PSL status. 'It's strange, it's unheard of and I hope we did not set a bad precedent,' said Mngqithi. 'If this is what is going to happen, we are going to have a lot of problems with teams switching off the lights when the going gets tough. If the mindset is not right for the match they will know at least we have a repeat the next day or after three months where we may come back better. 'With all the changes you can still make after three months, it may be better for other teams. Personally, I have never heard of anything like this, but in South Africa anything is possible. 'In South Africa sometimes traffic is directed by the homeless, so anything is possible.' SuperSport CEO Stan Matthews said they followed all the procedures set by the PSL. 'We have done everything according to procedure, from our point of view we followed the process and we faced our DC charges and we respected the decision. 'Everyone has their rights to do whatever they want to do but I can't speak for Cape Town City. As far as we are concerned, we did everything we needed to do, we complied with all the conditions put in front of us. 'We fulfilled our league fixture and according to me and the league table we have avoided the play-offs.'
IOL News
23-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
No margin for error as Golden Arrows aim to edge clear of drop zone against Sekhukhune United
Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi gives out instructions to defender and captain Gladwin Shitolo at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Photo: BackpagePix Image: BackpagePix Golden Arrows will be looking to make home advantage count when they welcome Sekhukhune United to the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu on Saturday in a decisive Premiership clash. Kick-off is scheduled for 3pm in what will be the last fixture of the season for Babina Noko, while Arrows still have to navigate an outstanding 45 minutes against SuperSport United. For Arrows, this is a chance to potentially secure their Premiership status before finishing off that tricky encounter against Matsatsantsa. The Durban-based club currently sit in 13th position with 27 points, just one clear of Cape Town City in the relegation playoff spot. A win against Sekhukhune could be enough to confirm their safety, even if City collect all three points in their clash with Stellenbosch FC in the Cape derby. To the Mighty Gold and Green Army! The moment has arrived for our last home game of the season against Sekhukhune United! Let your passion ignite Princess Magogo Stadium! Come in your numbers, bring the noise!#SthendeWay #10betGoldenArrows — Lamontville Golden Arrows FC (@goldenarrowsfc1) May 23, 2025 Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The margins are fine and the pressure is real, but Arrows will know that collecting three points at home might ease their relegation concerns significantly. Under coach Manqoba Mngqithi, Arrows have taken on a more structured and possession-focused approach since his arrival earlier this year. While the philosophy has brought some stability in phases, results have been inconsistent. Their home form remains underwhelming – with just three wins from 13 matches at Princess Magogo this season, accompanied by five draws and five defeats. Goals have been hard to come by, and the defensive lapses have not helped either. Saturday's clash comes with its own level of difficulty, as Sekhukhune are among the better-performing sides this campaign. The Limpopo based outfit are sitting fourth on the log with 46 points from 27 matches, and a strong finish could see them qualify for next season's CAF Confederation Cup – especially if Stellenbosch stumble. 1 - Keletso Makgalwa has won his first Player of the Month award, and is the third player from Sekhukhune United to do so after Andy Boyeli & Linda Mntambo. Honoured. — OptaJabu (@OptaJabu) May 14, 2025 Eric Tinkler's men are unbeaten in their last five matches, a run that includes two wins and three draws. Their most recent outing was a 1-1 draw with Kaizer Chiefs, a match in which they showed both resilience and organisation. This consistency has been a key factor in their rise up the table, and they will be looking to maintain that level heading into the final week of the season. Sekhukhune also won the reverse fixture 2-0, which will give them confidence heading into the return match.
