SLY-ING ON THE KNIFE-EDGE

MBABANE – He is on the knife-edge.

That is South African Mbabane Highlanders’ Head Coach, Selaotse ‘Sly’ Mosala, who finds himself under immense pressure for the first time since taking charge of the black and white Inkunz’emnyama ensemble. ‘Sly’ replaced now Green Mamba coach, Ernest Mavuso ahead of the ‘Big Derby’ clash which Highlanders won 1-0 over Mbabane Swallows at the Mavuso Sports Centre on January 23, 2022 courtesy of Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa’s 71st minute penalty. Eight games into his job, Mosala has become a subject for discussion in the club, with a couple of meetings already having taken place since the goalless draw with minnows Tinyosi last Saturday. “There’ll be another meeting where the whole management committee (MC) will be involved then it becomes a team decision what happens next,” an impeccable source said. The source said there was one meeting held after the game on Saturday night, and then another on Sunday where the performance of the team was discussed.

Concerned

“The Chief (Ally) was very concerned with the performance, as we have dropped the standards of our game drastically, and it’s not okay, as the director wants the title and to go to Africa as champions. It’s not a secret that we’re not playing well and the signs started showing against Tambuti, who we beat but the football was not on point, then we moved on to the Sea Birds game where we conceded two quick goals yet we were 3-0 up and then we couldn’t score against Tinyosi,” a source close to the club’s South African Director Chief Ally Kgomongwe said.

Another source added that the director felt the club had dropped in its football standard as it was no longer exciting yet they still had the same squad. “Talk to Babe Benson he will tell you because he was tasked with addressing the coach, as the Chief did not want to do it at that moment due to disappointment,” said the source. The club’s patron, Benson Dlamini, who is also Kgomongwe’s right-hand man, confirmed meeting ‘Sly’. “Football is quite something. When people advise you, you take what they say even when you know you won’t use it,” he diplomatically responded. Dlamini was questioned if they were still targetting the league title and he responded to the affirmative, but said the goalless draw against Tinyosi did a lot of damage towards that. He also affirmed a concern raised by a supporter on the club’s Facebook page that the team was now training once a day at 8:30am until just after 10am yet games were in the afternoon.

Rivals

Nonetheless, Dlamini said they were also aware that their rivals were also coming up strong in the second round, citing Young Buffaloes particularly. Highlanders play Denver Sundowns this weekend and then Buffaloes is the next game. They beat Buffaloes 2-0 in the first round but Dlamini did not hide the fact that their standards had drastically dropped in terms of play and it should worry them. Kgomongwe admitted that the club’s performance was a huge concern to him and he was worried because the ambition was one – to win the league and head to the TOTALEnergies CAF Champions League 2022/23. However, he would not get into details at the moment, saying Highlanders was not a one-man show. Sly denied there were concerns or any meetings concerning the club’s performance when questioned. There was no immediate comment from the players as those sought asked not to comment at this point.

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