Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi says Marcelo Allende’s introduction to South African football has the potential to increase the profile of the Premier Soccer League outside the country.
Allende is the second Chilean-born player to ply his trade in the PSL after Jorge Acuna, who also played for Sundowns between 2007 and 2009.
Mngqithi is aware of the somewhat negative perception about the 23-year-old move to South Africa and he is of the view that more eyes might be on the DStv Premiership as Chileans would be monitoring the progress of one of their prized stars.
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“I would not think it is about looking down at our football but it is the expectation that they have of their player. The boy is playing for the senior national team of Chile and that team is regularly in the World Cup. He used to be with Arsenal in England and there were possibilities for him to go to Italy and all these other big leagues,” said Mngqithi.
“How many Chileans have come to the South African league? And if there has never been a Chilean player, why would they think big of South African football when they have never had an encounter of South African football.
“But now that Marcelo is here, they are looking at Sundowns’ every game and that might have a positive spin towards the league. If maybe they never showed any negativity towards the league, it would have been ignorant.
The Sundowns mentor likened Allende’s move to Sundowns to that of South African footballers going to ply their trade at little known footballing countries.
“We also have South African players going to Belgium and all these other leagues. If a player goes to a league that you don’t know, you just ask where is he?
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“And you are right to have those question marks but sometimes the question marks have a positive spin on it because they then start to follow your football and then they realize that the there is another league elsewhere that should to be given the respect that it requires and that league is the South African league,” said Mngqithi.
He added: “One of their key players is in this league that they know nothing about, but are they not going to have many positive things to talk about once they come close to it? When you don’t know about a particular league, you always have question marks until the national team qualifies for the national team, you realize that there is something good going on.”
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