Veteran coach Dan Malesela has reacted to the notion that Motsepe Foundation Championship teams are competitively catching up with Betway Premiership sides.
This follows Casric Stars FC and Milford FC’s impressive run in the Nedbank Cup. The two National First Division [NFD] teams are in the semi-finals of South Africa’s biggest knockout competition.
Richards Bay-based Milford will face TS Galaxy in the last-four, while Casric have a date with Durban City FC. The lower-tier sides are attempting to emulate TS Galaxy, who won the 2019 Nedbank Cup as a first division outfit. ‘The Rockets’ beat Kaizer Chiefs in the final.
In their path to the semi-finals, Milford claimed the scalps of Soweto Super United, Mkhambathi FC and Sekhukhune United. On the other hand, Casric saw off Army Rocket before performing a giant-killing act by knocking out Orlando Pirates. AmaZulu FC were their next victims in the quarter-finals.
With these teams currently in the mix for promotion to the top-flight league, their exploits this season have sparked talk that the gap in competitive quality between the first division and the Betway Premiership has significantly narrowed.
MALESELA CALLS FOR CAUTION IN JUDGING MILFORD AND PIRATES-SLAYERS CASRIC
“Cup matches don’t determine the standards of leagues. But at the same time, it could mean that there is a huge improvement from NFD sides. It’s either that or the Premiership standards are dropping, I’m not sure,” Malesela told FARPost.
“You must not focus too much on cup games. Our players [in the NFD] are sometimes very picky. When they play Premiership teams, they tend to want to impress. That can deceive. At the same time, you don’t want to rule out the level of improvement from our lower divisions. I’m just hoping that it’s the standards that are improving in the NFD.
“These two teams [Casric and Milford] are within the top four bracket; they want to play Premiership football. It could be a lot of factors. You can’t rule out everything. Also, give credit to the coaches.”
Interestingly, Casric Stars and Milford are coached by their owners. Coach Bucs Mthombeni is a co-owner of Mpumalanga-based Casric, while Miford’s Dr Xanti Pupuma shares responsibilities between practice as a gynaecologist and coaching.
INTERESTING NEDBANK CUP PERMUTATIONS
“You can have two NFD teams in the final or two Premiership sides in the final. Or teams from Mpumalanga in the final or teams from KZN in the final,” added Malesela.
“This is a good cup [Nedbank], it makes everything interesting. It now depends on how good you are as a coach, as an individual. If you are good, you get results. Probably, these coaches understand what they are doing.”
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