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Cape Town - Dribbling legend Mlungisi 'Professor' Ngubane has slammed Mamelodi Sundowns manager Pitso Mosimane for his criticism of Fortune Makaringe for showboating in the defeat to Orlando Pirates.
Makaringe sent the crowd at Orlando Stadium into a frenzy when he produced a bit of theatrics with the ball at his feet in the second half with the Buccaneers leading 1-0.
Mosimane mocked the midfielder when he did the same after the ball came to him in his technical area while gesturing to the crowd that it was still only 1-0.
The 'Downs tactician was scathing of Makaringe in his post-match press-conference and Ngubane, who was revered in his playing days at Durban Bush Bucks for his trickery on the ball, feels the comments were unnecessary as the Pirates midfielder did not lose possession.
“What Pitso said didn’t and still doesn’t sit well with me. All that the boy from Pirates was doing was expressing himself, because of the confidence he had and self-belief. Pitso criticised him and invited the attention for the boy to imply that what he did was wrong," Ngubane told Soccer Laduma.
“Pitso himself is coaching the Brazilians. Next thing, his player (Thapelo) Morena struggles to control the ball while on his own in front of him (Mosimane) on the line. I don’t know why Pitso is doing what he is doing. He is copying this from coaches from places like Scotland who don’t use these skills. Coaches from England know about skills because George Best and others used to play like that. I’m disappointed that we are killing our own.
“I was very happy to see Makaringe doing what he did. He was entertaining people and they were leading (1-0). Furthermore, he had been part of the buildup to their goal earlier on. The boy performed that at the right time as there was no one putting him under pressure.
He didn’t lose the ball, as he passed it to his team-mate afterwards. What is the problem with Pitso? Why is Pitso doing what he is doing? We used to play the same kind of football, were we crazy? Was Jomo Sono crazy? Was Teenage Dladla crazy? This is our football! Maybe playing in Africa has started to confuse him to a point that he has forgotten about where he comes from.
"I didn’t like what he did. Pirates were leading and were dominating Sundowns, who were trying to come back, and the boy is telling them, ‘Listen, you won’t come back. We are in control here. This is Orlando.’ You perform those kind of skills to send different messages. Sundowns were trying to take over the control of the game from Pirates and the boy performed that skill, and I couldn’t help but laugh and said, ‘This is the football we know’.
“We had just been happy that the Cape Town City player (Bradley Ralani) put the ball through the legs of a Kaizer Chiefs player (George Maluleka). He was killing Chiefs and they were unfortunate that they ended up losing. It’s not called showboating. For the first time, Sundowns were forced to play long balls last night because Pirates were playing football."
- TeamTalk Media
