Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena is cautious about the praise and the attention that his young player Siyabonga Mabena is already getting in the local football circles.
The 16-year-old grade 10 student is making headlines since he made his debut for the Brazilians in the match against Royal AM at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium last month.
“We saw the drop of the shoulder and the dynamic change of direction from him – not a lot of players have that quality,” said Mokwena after their match against Cape Town City midweek.
“You should have seen the two assists he made for us in the Diski team. He has a bright future – we just have to be careful and not make too much noise about them. I said it about Cassius (Mailula), I had to manage him when he came back from Bafana Bafana because youngsters need a little bit of protection.
“We are not a country that is known to produce world class talent at a young age and there must be a reason for that. Our players reach a high level of performance a little bit later – but other good football countries produce excellent16 or 17 year olds who are ready to perform at a high level,” Mokwena added.
“Why don’t we do that? That should be our question. Sometimes, we overhype players after one good game. How many years has Themba “Mshishi” Zwane being on top of his game but you guys (the media) are asking me about Mabena.
“Ask me about Peter Shalulile’s level of consistency in the last five years, since his days at Highlands Park. He is on about 98 goals, why are we talking about Mabena today?
“Mabena has not done well enough to be spoken about in this particular press conference. Otherwise, we will kill these talented boys, they would think that have arrived all of a sudden and then they will experience the curse of the rising star,” Mokwena explained further.
Sundowns have already won the DStv Premiership title after SuperSport United dropped points last weekend.
The Brazilians are left with six games on the league games and the likes of Mabena and other promising youngsters are likely to be given a run to show their worth and to stamp their authority in the team.
Masandawana will face struggling Swallows FC who are desperate for points on Sunday and it will be interesting to see how the fringe players will exert themselves in the match.
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