MATSHELANE MAMABOLO
MAMELODI Sundowns Ladies FC coach Jerry Tshabalala would love his club to play “high intensity” matches against “world class” opposition on a regular basis, and will be making this plea to his bosses upon returning home from the US.
African champions on more than one occasion and the most dominant force in South African football, Banyana ba Style got a rude awakening as to their standing in the world during the Kansas Women’s Cup, where they lost both their matches without finding the opposition net.
The Hollywoodbets League queens lost 3-0 to hosts Kansas City Current on Thursday, before going down 2-0 to INAC Kobe of Japan in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Speaking at the post-match media conference, Tshabalala said they were grateful for the opportunity to pit their skills against opposition different from what they are used to and wanted to do that on a regular basis.
“We have to go back home and discuss with our management to see if it is possible that in three months’ time we must play with more competitive teams,” Tshabalala said, adding that playing such matches will put them in good stead for when the time comes to play in the Club World Cup.
“To play against teams which are playing with high intensity, because when we are home we are the team that leads with intensity. We want to go there (Club World Cup) ready and prepared, and the only thing that will help us is that once in three months we go out of the country and the continent to tournaments like these.”
Tshabalala was impressed by the improvement his team made for the second match after being seemingly overawed in the first one.
“The girls were not overwhelmed by the stage (against Kobe). We tried to play our own game and that is the difference from the first match.”
As a coach, he believes the experience of playing in the Kansas Women’s Cup has opened up his eyes and that should help make him a better coach.
“As a coach, there are lots of lessons I am taking back home.”
One of those is flexibility.
“As much as you believe in yourself and what you are teaching your players, there are times when you need to be realistic and try to tweak the tactical approach.
“(Against Kobe) we needed to change things a little bit and the players must not be shocked when we change. So, one must have a plan A, B and even plan C in one game and that will be helpful.”
The lessons are sure to come in handy for Sundowns as they look to hold on to their CAF Champions League title later in the year.