Billiat praised

JOHANNESBURG. — Former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Ted Dumitru is not surprised by Mamelodi Sundowns’ excellent form of late in the South African Premiership as he thinks they have the best attacking players. Zimbabwean Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly have been two of the standout players that have led Sundowns’ resurgence of late and helped themto the top of the league and the Telkom Knockout cup.

Dumitru has indicated that he expected the Brazilians to find form as they are stocked with the most talented footballers in the league.

“Mamelodi Sundowns’ brilliant form is no surprise at all. It has been a long time coming. A team like Sundowns can only be satisfied by beating the best teams in the country, so it was just a matter of it happening at any moment,” Dumitru said.

“You should not expect anything else when you have so many talented players in one football team. I mean, players such as Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly are very gifted and have the best attacking attributes.

“Your best players often need to be offensive players who can create and score goals. The team is starting to display high-quality performances that are on the same level as the results.”

Dumitru also believes that the development structures in place at Downs outstrip those at Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Downs are currently dominating local football and have just lifted the Telkom Knockout and sit on top of the Absa Premiership as the clubs enter the festive break. Dumitru believes that this is only a sign of things to come and expects the Brazilians to continue to dominate the domestic football scene.

The former Downs, Chiefs and Bucs mentor has indicated that the Chloorkop-based outfit look to have the best development structures in place which will reap rewards in the future. “If you look at Chiefs’ and Pirates’ development structures in comparison to Sundowns’, you’ll see that Sundowns is likely to soon get away from both of them,” Dumitru said. “Chiefs made a huge blunder by closing their academy, as youth development is now a huge scientific solution for clubs.” — Laduma.