Phenyo Mongala shot to prominence during a Nedbank Cup campaign with University of Pretoria 15 years ago and he has set his sights of one day returning to the club to work as a coach, after his playing career was cut short by injury.
The retired winger, who signed for Orlando Pirates after an impressive Nedbank Cup campaign with AmaTuks back in 2009, is currently working as a coach in the lower divisions in his home country Botswana. At 38, Mongala still has a lot of time to grow as a coach and realise his dream of returning to the PSL and one day working as head coach of the Botswana national team.
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"I have been coaching for almost four years. I am still coaching in the lower divisions at a club called Happy Hearts and I am doing my coaching licenses. I have a CAF C license and I am about to do CAF B. Coaching is different to playing, but it's the same path. You are just passing the knowledge you had to the players now. You were a student and now you are a teacher," Mongala said to the Siya crew.
"I want to see myself going far in this journey of coaching. I want to see myself coaching bigger teams and helping my country to qualify (for the Africa Cup of Nations). I am still learning and I have time to grow. I would love to come back to South Africa to the team that made me, Tuks. I want to start there and understand coaching better. I would love to see myself coaching in the NFD (now Motsepe Foundation Championship) and then move up to the PSL (DStv Premiership)."
Mongala's career was cut short by injury in 2016, forcing him to call it a day while he was playing for the Botswana Defence Force in the Premier League.
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"I suffered a lot of injuries because, even today, I have had two surgeries on both knees. I suffered ACL on both knees. It ended my career so early. My career ended in 2016 when I was playing in Botswana. When I came back to play at home, people were still expecting a lot from me. I stopped playing when I was 29. I felt I still had a few seasons left to play, but the injuries kicked in early. It was depressing because I had to watch other people playing and I could not do anything."
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