He's renowned as an unparalelled talent-spotter who discovered some of South Africa's best soccer stars.
But even Jomo Sono accepts he's worried about the quality of football talent the country is churning out at the moment.
"Our players are now taking longer to reach the required level," Jomo Cosmos owner-coach Sono said yesterday as he bemoaned the fact that while it was easier to unearth the likes of Phil Masinga and Mark Fish, sell them and replace them with equally good players, he was now finding it difficult to do so.
He conceded that football had somewhat taken a back seat, with youngsters now having other options to pursue as careers, and those who do take it up, not putting in much effort.
"Previously, it was easy to develop players because they were interested in the game. The likes of Mark Fish used to train twice a day. These ones of today train once. You see them with things hanging on their ears (headphones). They don't look interested. Perhaps they have been affected by the takeover of technology," Sono lamented.
Nevertheless, Sono insisted he had built a competitive team capable of avoiding an immediate drop back to the National First Division. Ezenkosi boosted their survival chances by beating Orlando Pirates last weekend, but remain in a perilous 14th place, just a point above second-from-bottom University of Pretoria.
"I have assembled a good team, but these boys are playing under a lot of pressure. Every weekend there's pressure to win, and they become tense as a result. If we survive this season, next year you will see them playing more freely. Over 90% of my team are amateurs - with the exception of [Brice] Aka and Sipho [Mngomezulu] - they don't have PSL experience."
Cosmos face another tough test in their survival bid this Saturday when they travel to Polokwane City, the team immediately above them in the standings.
"It will be a very difficult game, but that win over Pirates was a morale-booster for us. We need to work on consistency now because if we do well against big teams, we can do the same against anyone," Sono said.
'Players now simply not interested'
He's renowned as an unparalelled talent-spotter who discovered some of South Africa's best soccer stars.
But even Jomo Sono accepts he's worried about the quality of football talent the country is churning out at the moment.
"Our players are now taking longer to reach the required level," Jomo Cosmos owner-coach Sono said yesterday as he bemoaned the fact that while it was easier to unearth the likes of Phil Masinga and Mark Fish, sell them and replace them with equally good players, he was now finding it difficult to do so.
He conceded that football had somewhat taken a back seat, with youngsters now having other options to pursue as careers, and those who do take it up, not putting in much effort.
"Previously, it was easy to develop players because they were interested in the game. The likes of Mark Fish used to train twice a day. These ones of today train once. You see them with things hanging on their ears (headphones). They don't look interested. Perhaps they have been affected by the takeover of technology," Sono lamented.
Nevertheless, Sono insisted he had built a competitive team capable of avoiding an immediate drop back to the National First Division. Ezenkosi boosted their survival chances by beating Orlando Pirates last weekend, but remain in a perilous 14th place, just a point above second-from-bottom University of Pretoria.
"I have assembled a good team, but these boys are playing under a lot of pressure. Every weekend there's pressure to win, and they become tense as a result. If we survive this season, next year you will see them playing more freely. Over 90% of my team are amateurs - with the exception of [Brice] Aka and Sipho [Mngomezulu] - they don't have PSL experience."
Cosmos face another tough test in their survival bid this Saturday when they travel to Polokwane City, the team immediately above them in the standings.
"It will be a very difficult game, but that win over Pirates was a morale-booster for us. We need to work on consistency now because if we do well against big teams, we can do the same against anyone," Sono said.
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