It came as no surprise when “Dance” Malesela was parachuted into the top job at Chippa – for the umpteenth time – to try and guide the team from the relegation zone. Malesela’s relationship with the Chilli Boys is one that needs no introduction and his work is evident as Chippa currently sits on position 11 on the DStv Premiership standings.
“I am not one to speak too much about matches before we even kick-off, I just want us to play and see where we are and then a lot of things can be fixed. You obviously want to have a good first half,” said Chippa United coach Dan “Dance” Malesela.
“Dance” is going up against Mamelodi Sundowns in what will probably be his toughest task since returning to the Eastern Cape-based side, where he has set goals beyond his mandate.
“If you don’t set your standards high and you look for mediocrity you will always get mediocrity so we should push ourselves higher than where we are now and work with that and see how far we can go if we get into the top eight brackets,” said Malesela.
“Sundowns are a top of the log team and that means they are doing well. It is going to be a big challenge for us but it is a challenge that we can manage. We are also not going to sit back, we intend on dishing out some things from our side and see where the game leads.
“I am not one to speak too much about matches before we even kick-off, I just want us to play and see where we are and then a lot of things can be fixed. You obviously want to have a good first half,” Malesela added.
One person who does not mind giving his thoughts before the game is his counterpart, Sundowns co-head coach Rhulani Mokwena. He speaks of the Chilli Boys as though he knows them like he knows the back of his hand.
“We know their profile and we have done a lot of work. We will see how we try to control them but at the same time we want to dominate, we are at home and we have to find possibilities to find the spaces that we can manipulate in relation to how we want to play,” said Mokwena.
He concluded: “We all know the philosophy of “Dance” it is a clear model of play that is based around possession and dominating the ball. That becomes the first priority for everybody on the ball and you have got to understand that first because the principles then influence the strategy and our strategy will have to apply. They have a clear structure of building from the back.”
