If Elias Mokwana does well at Esperance, he will pave the way for more South Africans to move to the Northern part of the African continent. These are the views of Mokwena's former captain Linda Mntambo.
Mntambo is the captain of Sekhukhune United, a place Mokwana called home for the past two seasons where his impressive displays caught the eye of Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos.
Mokwana becomes the first Mzansi-born to joined Tunisian giants Esperance, and Mntambo has urged him to hit top form in order for more Premier Soccer League stars to attract interest from African heavyweights.
“Losing players is the nature of football. Players come and go, some leave for better opportunities and some leave because their contracts are over,” said Mntambo.
L’interview complète de Elias Mokwana !
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“When it comes to Elias Mokwana, he has been exceptional for us in the past two seasons. But what makes Elias the person that he is, is his teammates.
“What I said the other time is that sometimes we tend to look at an individual and forget the rest of the squad.
“Sometimes not even the individual, we just focus on the 11 that start the game, but it is the other guys who are left behind because iron sharpens iron at training, we push hard and make it easy for us to compete on match day.
“If Elias is honest enough, he knows that it is because of his teammates and the coaches he has worked with that he finds himself where he is in Tunisia.
“We wish him all of the best at his new club, we hope that he flies the South African flag high because now he won’t just fly Sekhukhune’s flag high but he is going to be an ambassador for the country.
“If he does well, he opens doors for scouts to come in and search for talent in our country,” Mntambo added.
Mokwana is not the only key player who left Babina Noko as veteran midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo switched his allegiance to Eric Tinkler’s Cape Town City, who Sekhukhune face this Saturday in the MTN8 quarter-final at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
“In terms of pressure, I feel he has more pressure because he is going to play against us as a club more than us playing against him,” Mntambo added.
“He is going to be playing against players who he has played with for a long time. There won’t be any love lost, but at the same time it is not about him, it is about the club and we want to go through to the next round.”
Kick-off is at 15:00.
