Ajax Cape Town's Mark Mayambela believes that 'modern football' should not exist in Mzansi, and more appreciation needs to be shown for the type of football that South Africans are able to play.
In an exclusive interview with Soccer Laduma, both Mark Mayambela and Lebohang Mokoena spoke of their experiences against European-based clubs, and how the South African football identity in 'dribbling', was praised by their opponents rather than discouraged.
"What is this 'modern football'? In my first season at Pirates, when we drew 1-1 against them (Tottenham Hotspur) in the first game of the Vodacom Challenge. Ntwana, we dribbled them right through and they were speechless and congratulated us. Now you have people discouraging their players from dribbling and it doesn't make sense," Mayambela told the Siya crew.
The former SuperSport United winger has expressed his disappointment in the fact that the same skills that South African footballers do every day in training and on the pitch, gets more praise when it's done on the world stage by European stars such as Lionel Messi.
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"You know, I still can't believe the noise that was made about Messi's nutmeg in the Champions League against a Manchester City player (James Milner). The whole world stood up and screamed and I was like, 'A shibobo or spytwo, really?' Are you kidding me? We do this every day at training and in matches without an effort, yet the same people who hate it when we do it appreciate it when Messi does it? I was so annoyed, really.
"How many people have we 'killed' like that on the field? You never hear anyone make noise about it. If anything, you get criticised for 'showboating'. That's South Africa for you and we are really not united," the 29-year-old added.
To read the full exclusive interview with Mark Mayambela and Lebohang Mokoena, check out issue 998 of Soccer Laduma.
