‘We’re cheating ourselves’: Sundowns' Mngqithi appeals for stadiums to be opened

Manqoba Mngqithi has called on the government to allow fans back into stadiums after the excellent atmosphere created by just 2,000 supporters who watched Mamelodi Sundowns beat Egyptian giants Al Ahly at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

Sundowns completed a first double over Pitso Mosimane’s side after their 1-0 Caf Champions League Group A win in Cairo two weekends before Saturday’s home victory by the same margin.

The second win, courtesy of Peter Shalulile’s first-half strike, confirmed the Brazilians’ place in the quarterfinals of the competition they won in 2016 under Mosimane.

SA President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce changes in the national state of disaster that has been in place since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic early in 2020. The latest instalment of the state of disaster will be reviewed on March 15.

“I think SA must look at this thing (the return of the fans) very closely. We had the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon (where the fans were allowed to attend matches),” Sundowns co-coach Mngqithi said.

“And if we really think as country we’ve rolled out our vaccination and we’ve done very well, and we think we’re a bigger country than most in terms of our level of development, then we should be a little bit more confident.

“We have more people vaccinated in our country and for that reason we should even show confidence to outside countries by also opening this thing up.

“If you’ve got these people sitting on this side of the stadium what’s the difference if you got the same thing happening on the other side, the other side and the other side.

“If there’s still a risk, there was a risk today. But there’s no risk. When we go to Al Ahly they’re open for more than 5,000 people but we open for 2,000 — no.

“The playing fields are not the same and in the Champions League we need that support. But I also believe that even in the [SA] league we need a bit more in terms of allowing the spectators now because I don’t understand.

“If you go to Egypt there are spectators, you go to Afcon [the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon] there are spectators, but SA still does not have spectators.

“It’s like maybe we’re trying to make sure that people buy more subscriptions [for satellite television] to watch more games at home instead of making sure that the game is watched in the stadium.”

Mngqithi was pleased with what he saw in the stands on Saturday, with Sundowns fans backing their team against a club coached by their former coach, Mosimane.

“Look how nice it was,” Mngqithi said. “We would want to have this atmosphere in all our games.

“And other teams are also suffering. Other teams they don’t even have a sponsor and they rely on gate takings.

“For how long must they continue without any money coming from the spectators? I honestly I think the country must look at this very closely, because I think at this stage we’re cheating ourselves.”