Decision-making process behind Downs' success, says Mngqithi

Having swept all domestic competitions, Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has revealed that being given authority to make decisions made the team different from other teams.

Sundowns completed their historic treble when they won the Nedbank Cup title after their hard-fought 2-1 victory over Marumo Gallants at Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on Saturday.

Goals by Peter Shalulile and substitute Thapelo Morena secured Sundowns’ third cup of the season after the MTN8 in October and the league title.

Mngqithi said this treble was special for the club after the hard work they put in behind the scenes.

“We got some marginal games as a result of the technical team we have – we must be honest. It is very difficult for any other team to compete with [us, because we have] so many capable coaches sharing their opinions within the group to make sure that this thing is better. In other environments, these debates are not between coaches but between the coach and the boss.

“But at Sundowns, the president gives us the authority to make these decisions as coaches and analysts together and we sit on a panel of more than 20 people. We discuss the finer details of each and every game.”

Mngqithi said that process has helped the club, which sometimes spent hours trying to come up with a starting line-up.

“Those marginal games do look better on us, better than others because we dig a little bit deeper. Sometimes we spend more than an hour making a line-up because we don’t want to leave any stone unturned. We want to try to be fair to the boys and objective as well.

“Sometimes emotionally you will want one player to play at the expense of another. But when you have a group of people who will help with data and everything to say this is how we should take a different direction and we all agree in the end, maybe that’s where the success is, not necessarily because these other teams are not on our level.”