adminso porous in defence that some of the 58 goals that they conceded were comical mistakes by Posnett Omony and Azwindini Maphaha.
The club are now pressing hard on their mission to bring Arubi — who currently plays for Zimbabwean champions Dynamos — to Limpopo next season.
Arubi’s deal will be wrapped up as soon as the end of next month.
Apparently Leopards will actually be recruiting two new goalkeepers as they will also be releasing two of the three goalies that they have in their books.
The club’s management has admitted that their rear-guard was their weakness this past season.
Head coach Sunday Chidzambwa, who hails from Zimbabwe and has previously coached Dynamos, has been tasked to muscle his influence towards bringing Arubi to Leopards.
The 27-year-old is an established goalkeeper who has played for two of Zimbabwe’s biggest clubs Dynamos and Highlanders and was recently lined up for a move to Poland.
Meanwhile, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Zimbabwean striker Nyasha Mushekwi hopes coach Johan Neeskens will retain his job despite a disappointing campaign.
Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe has fired coaches who do not bring success to Chloorkop, which has led to some sections of the media doubting Neeskens’ future at the club.
But Mushekwi absolves the coach from blame and is confident the Dutchman will make up for this season’s disappointment.
“I do not think changing coaches is a good thing,” he says.
“We missed out on the League title by a couple of points. We lost the Nedbank Cup in the Final and the MTN8 in the semi-final.
“I think we were knocked out in the quarter-finals in the Telkom Knockout. I believe all these are small steps to greater things. If he (Neeskens) stays, and I know he is staying, next season will be different for Sundowns.”
Mushekwi says Orlando Pirates got the better of Sundowns and the rest of the League because in terms of teamwork, Pirates were unmatched.
“Siyabonga Sangweni was scoring, Lucky Lekgwathi was scoring, Benni was scoring as well as Daine Klate. Everybody in that team was scoring.
“So it is not about Mushekwi or Mphela, it is about the whole team. If you look up to one player to do the job, you are not going to win anything. You need a team to win things.”
Meanwhile, Mushekwi shoots down the notion that Sundowns wrecks the careers of players.
Many footballers have joined Motsepe’s team amid hopes of success but seen their fortunes change for the worse.
“At Sundowns, it is all about working hard. I have heard people talk about Sundowns killing players and so forth.
“I think it is all about players’ mentality when they join the team. They are told they are the best when they join. If a player comes with that mentality that they are the best, they are going to fail.
“It is not about what people say about a player but what he does on the field.
That is what differentiates a good player from an average player,” he adds. — Kickoff.com
Online Reporter