Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has revealed what he told youngster Mduduzi Shabalala ahead of his cameo from the bench that saw him score his first senior goal.
The 48-year-old collected his first win as Amakhosi head coach after his side beat Maritzburg United 3-0.
First-half strikes by Ashley Du Preez, who scored his first goal for the club, and Keagan Dolly were followed by youngster Mduduzi Shabalala, adding the third in injury-time.
Zwane later explained why he opted to bring on the 18-year-old youngster, who only made his second senior senior appearance for the club, and what he told him ahead of the match.
“Mduduzi, luckily we are not far, we are close by,” ‘10111’ said after the match.
“We know the mentality of those youngsters what is actually happening, where we come from.
Most of us were born and raised in Soweto, not only in Soweto bu the mentality that we have in terms of giving praise too early and make these boys believe they’ve arrived.
“Luckily Mdu is one humble young man and we spend a lot of time with them. We make them aware of what is going on out there and they listen.
“And I told him today, ‘no matter whether we’re under pressure or we’re leading, I’m going to give you the opportunity and I want to see you going out there, showing your talent and express yourself’.
“And he did very well, with the size of his body, he went it, he was pressing and that’s what we need from our youngsters.
“This can only help all our different age groups at national team level because the country needs players who can play at this level in order to get it right.
“If we are afraid of getting results because we don’t want to play these [young] players, I’ve always said that if you are a coach and you are afraid of losing you’re always going to lose.”
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