Siwelele coach calls for recognition of goalkeeper staff after cup heroics

Siwelele FC coach Godfrey Mosoetsa says goalkeeper coach Mswazi Tshabalala deserves credit for Jody February’s decisive performances in the Carling Knockout Cup.

February kept a clean sheet and saved two penalties as Siwelele reached the quarter-finals by beating Polokwane City in a shootout at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Siwelele played the final 120 minutes with 10 men but held City to a goalless draw before February proved the difference in the penalty shootout.

Mosoetsa said the contribution of the wider technical team was often overlooked while players and head coaches received the praise.

“Credit must also be given to other technical staff members because sometimes you come here as a coach, take the credit, but there are a lot of people who are doing wonderful work behind the scenes like the goalkeeper coach,” said Mosoetsa.

He questioned whether the work behind February’s clean sheets and Siwelele’s ability to remain competitive with a player sent off received enough recognition.

“We’ll talk about Jody keeping a clean sheet, but who’s training Jody? You talk about the players being able to play one man down up until the 120 minutes. Who’s training those players? Who’s making sure that they can be able to sustain that? So, there are a lot of people.

“Sometimes it’s us coaches given the opportunity to come and talk here, but there are a lot of people who are doing dirty work behind the scenes. So, it’s a team effort, and this is the second time I’m saying this. I wish there could be an award for the technical team, not just for the player. We know players are more important, but there are people who are putting a lot of work behind the scenes, and they deserve something as well.”

Mosoetsa also revealed that Siwelele had devoted significant time to penalty practice before their cup tie, taking more than 100 spot-kicks during the week.

“I think we took throughout the week almost over 100 penalties, but the atmosphere is different when you come to a cup game,” he added.

The coach said the pressure of a competitive shootout meant players could not simply be assigned penalties in advance. Instead, they had to decide for themselves whether to step forward.

“You could see some of the guys. Now it’s no longer easy to say so and so and so and so and so and so take the penalties. You leave it up to them to volunteer and say, you know, I’ll come and take it.”