Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi backs down on Teboho Mokoena to thrash Golden Arrows in Carling Knockout and discloses meeting with Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos criticised his Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart Manqoba Mngqithi for overlooking Teboho Mokoena.

But the Masandawana trainer hit back at the Belgian, telling him to excuse himself from Sundowns matters.

It was an exchange of words between the two who were scheduled to meet on Sunday to iron out their issues.

“With regards to coach Broos and my utterances, we will be having a meeting with him tomorrow [on Sunday] at Chloorkop,” said Mngqithi as per Times Live.

“I think we will move forward in creating a better environment because he’s got a lot of our players.

"We support the national team and Safa [the South African Football Association] because even with the junior national teams we have a lot of players there.

“It is only proper for us as coaches or as leaders of these institutions to try to find each other," added the Masandawana coach.

"We must be able to communicate about these things. It is only for the best because you may find that there are other players that he might not have looked at closely.  

“But when we communicate and he gets to know what I feel about those individuals it makes his life easy," he continued.

"I believe he has a big pool of players he can get from us and all these clubs, but without good relations with the coaches it makes it difficult to even assist where we can assist.” 

However, Mngqithi appears to have backed down on his stance on Mokoena whom he introduced as a second-half substitute during Saturday's Carling Knockout 5-0 victory over Golden Arrows.

Mokoena had gone for five matches without being selected and responded by scoring a brace for Bafana Bafana in their 5-0 win over Congo-Brazzaville in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Not only did Mngqithi and Bross clash over Mokoena but on Themba Zwane as well.

The Sundowns coach accused Broos of overloading his captain leading to an injury which could take a long time to heal.

It remains to be known what Mngqithi and Broos discussed if they managed to meet on Sunday.

Sundowns host Royal AM in a Premier Soccer League match on Wednesday and it will not be surprising if Mngqithi starts Mokoena.