JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 25: Siphamandla Hleza of Milford FC during the Nedbank Cup, Last 32 match between Kaizer Chiefs and Milford FC at FNB Stadium on February 25, 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Milford head coach Xanti Pupuma sang the praises of goalkeeper Siphamandla Hleza after his heroics against Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup.
The Stallions pulled off the biggest upset of the Nedbank Cup 2024 edition after they dumped out Chiefs 5-4 on penalties after a stalemate in extra-time.
Pupuma says he would have been happy even if they had lost as he was playing with ‘kids’ and praised Hleza, who saved Ranga Chivaviro’s penalty in extra-time and scored the winning spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out.
READ | Misfiring Chiefs bow out of Nedbank Cup
“I actually don’t know what to say, it was a tough game, I think the boys did it for themselves, maybe initially when we started it was all about Milford and about getting the structure right,” Pupuma said on SuperSport TV.
“But at the end towards extra-time, especially after we lost (Vusumuzi) Mkhabela, it was all about the individual player doing it for himself. I don’t know what to say to Hleza, I think I should make him a Chairman.
“I’m actually very happy, even if we had lost the game, I started the game with kids and they showed up, it was a bit overwhelming for them, we thought we should protect some of them during half-time, bring the older boys to settle the game down,” he said.
“Because we could see that they were coming at us so we needed to defend with a little bit of discipline and I think that’s what got us through, defending and just working on a counter-attack, hopefully getting something out of it, after all we were playing Kaizer Chiefs.”
Pupuma continued to praise Hleza and said that he hopes his players will get better opportunities in their careers.
“That’s what he does, he’s an amazing boy. It’s so unfortunate that you guys only get to see him now, there’s so many players that I can count in my team that are outstanding, that could have gone further in their careers if they were in a better place than where we come from,” he went on.
“But today I’m gonna let them enjoy the moment and hopefully from now on they will get something,” he concluded.
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