Pirates coach Mokwena aware of Chiefs’ NBC danger

Mokwena believes Amakhosi did well to bring in Nurkovic this season.

Speaking at the PSL headquarters in Johannesburg yesterday, Mokwena has done his homework on Chiefs, with the teams set to clash in the quarterfinals of the Telkom Knockout at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

READ: Sandilands aware of danger posed by dangerous Chiefs strikers

Looking at Castro and Nurkovic, Mokwena says one can easily be misled into thinking Chiefs will attack with high balls, but that is not the case at all.

“Nurkovic gives them a different dimension, a focal point and a contrast to the way they play to be honest, the game forms they take on the pitch and if you look at the profile of the players, you will be misled because you think there will be a lot of long balls that go to the target-men – Leonardo Castro and Nurkovic. But the reality is that they build from the back,” he said.

“I was listening to Ernst Middendorp talking about possession yesterday (Wednesday). He is trying to improve the possession stats of Chiefs. And that is why I say when you look at the profile of their players – Castro is six foot something and you end up thinking long balls are coming.”

However, Pirates have a dangerous attacking player that Chiefs will have to deal in striker Tshegofatso Mabasa. The striker has already hit five goals for the Buccaneers and Mokwena said what makes Mabasa so impressive is that he is coachable and his upbringing has helped him a lot in becoming the player that he is today.

“Credit to his upbringing, when you speak to Tshegofatso’s mother, you get an understanding of what type of background he is from.

“Spiritually, he is very grounded and sometimes you take that for granted. The boy is plugged in and he receives a lot of divine assistance,” said Mokwena.

“His family have done very well in raising him, he is rooted with a lot of humility and he gets that from his mother.”

The two teams met in the semifinal of the very same competition last year and Pirates won 2-1, but lost in the final to Baroka FC.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.