- Mokwena and Mngqithi were Downs' co-coaches
- Nascimento opines it was a wrong move
- Mokwena is now Sundowns head coach
WHAT HAPPENED: The Brazilians confirmed Rhulani Mokwena as their sole head coach with Manqoba Mngqithi relegated to a senior coaching role.
Steve Komphela will now be a first-team coach as Masandawana aim at successfully defending their Premier Soccer League title.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: The trio has been working as Downs' co-coaches since the exit of celebrated tactician Pitso Mosimane in 2020.
During this period, Downs have remained dominant in South African football, and last season they won the league, MTN8 Cup, and the Nedbank Cup.
This season, they did not start the campaign as they may have anticipated, and recently, they were knocked out of the MTN8 Cup by Orlando Pirates who claimed a 3-0 aggregate win.
Next Match
Nascimento - who played for both Mosimane and his successors, has since stated how it felt getting instructions from the trio.
WHAT HE SAID: "For me, this from the beginning [co-coaching] was not good. Because they have different ways of thinking. For me, it is good to have one leader, and now it is possible with Rhulani as the head coach – I don’t know," Nascimento told iDiski Times.
"Too many coaches at once – one talks this, one talks that, it’s not good. It leaves players confused. This happened to me several times when I was there. But this is my opinion and I don't like it.
"I'll make an example of Mosimane, he was one leader. Yes, he had coach Rhulani, and coach Manqoba, but Pitso was the leader. Pitso was making calls on how things were supposed to be done.
"This [co-coach] was confusing especially in Africa. There’s so much information, but the players were left confused."
IN THREE PICTURES:
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BackpagepixWHAT NEXT: Nascimento is expected to line up for Royal AM against his former team on Saturday in the Premier Soccer League.
