How Bennett Mnguni’s dad educated his lethal left foot

It’s hard to think of Bennett Mnguni without pondering on the blinder he played against Real Madrid during his time at Lokomotiv Moscow in December 2002.

It’s even harder for those that watched him the day he pocketed prime Zinedine Zidane to forget that his scorcher on that UEFA Champions League night came off the left foot.

BENNETT MNGUNI NOT ALWAYS AMBIDEXTROUS

Interestingly, Mnguni was not always ambidextrous. His strongest foot, from childhood, was his right. 

His dad – Simon – a prolific footballer himself, never understood how a football-crazy kid could only use one foot. 

“I was always right-footed until my dad said you can’t use one foot. He took a small rubber ball [the size of a tennis ball] that moved rapidly. He asked me to put it down, let it bounce once and hit the wall. It would take me more than two hours to hit it three times consistently. I’d hit it and hold it,” the 48-year-old Mnguni says.

That practice meant his eyes always had to be on the ball to make sure he never missed it. He was 10 at the time, and by the time he was 18, he could kick, control and dribble with both legs. 

BROKE A BALL BOY’S LEG

A story is told of how he broke the leg of a ball boy after thumping a shot with his left foot. 

At the Santiago Bernabeu, that left foot scored a cracker with some 15 minutes to go. He picked up a clearance just outside the box, brought it under control‚ went around both Zidane and Roberto Carlos, and hammered it home.

“I just saw the net shaking. When I hit it first, it didn’t feel like it was going in because, as a midfielder, you don’t expect to score.

“But once I realised it was in‚ my first reaction was almost shocking. ‘Wow, I’ve scored’.

“It took me a while to realise what I’d achieved. Maybe a few minutes to sink in‚ ‘hey, I’ve scored against Real Madrid’.”

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