South Africa Under23s Midfielders

In our last piece, we examined the forwards most likely to play an important part in this summer Olympics squad. The piece can be found here (insert link). Whilst the performance in the recent defeat last month was far from ideal for preparations, the idea that the European-based players may also miss joining the squad now seems more like a reality. Having said that, there are still plenty of positives for us to look forward to. Locally based players such as DSTV Premiership youngsters Teboho Mokoena, Goodman Mosele, Sipho Mbule and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo have the opportunity to show their potential on the global international stage. What exactly can our local midfielders contribute to help the team prosper in Tokyo?

The South Africa Under23s Goal Scoring Problem

Teboho Mokoena

Over the past season, Mokoena was part of a SuperSport United team that was set up heavily reliant on young players such as Ditlhokwe, Lungu, Webber, Mbule, Fleurs and Phillips. He peaked very early in the season scoring 3 goals and providing 2 goals within the first 7 games. This helped the team storm into the top spots of the table to hold 18 points after only 10 games of the season.

The chart above shows where Mokoena ranks in the league in various metrics used to measure his position. The bigger the coloured area in that ‘slice’, the higher up he ranked in that category. We can see that he ranks above average in the orange sections where we measure a player’s creative abilities. For example, for chances created Mokoena ranks in the 86 percentile meaning that he is in the Top 15% of players (in his position) for the number of chances created per game. Overall Mokoena has shown his potential and ability to play a very progressive role as a defensive midfielder:

• creating chances
• playing passes in-between and behind the lines, for team-mates to run onto

Defensively, he has also been solid ranking highly in comparison versus other defensive midfielders.

Sipho Mbule

The central midfield team-mate of Mokoena has also had a solid season for SuperSport United. Combining for 11 goal contributions (4 goals and 7 assists), Mbule played a key role in the centre of the park for Matsatsantsa.

From his pizza chart, we can again see how impressive his performance has been this season, especially from the creative side. He ranks amongst the Top 20% of central midfielders who are able to create scoring opportunities (xA) and are able to shoot high-quality opportunities (xG per shot) when they become available to him. He is also vitally important to the movement of SuperSport United and how they move the ball through the thirds.

Goodman Mosele

Mosele has been an important player for Baroka since he made his first-team debut during the 17/18 season. Having now already had 4 seasons of senior football under his belt, he will be considered one of the more senior players of David Notoane’s squad. Considering his position in a Baroka shirt, we can visualise that Mosele is not a highly active member on the ball (ranking in the 20% category) for Involvements and Passes. Yet it is what he does when he has the ball that catches the attention. He managed to rank in the 50% category for creating chances for his teammates which is part of his importance for the Baroka side and why he has been linked with the Top 3. 

Nkosingiphile Ngcobo

Ngcobo has had to wait for his breakthrough season with AmaKhosi after previously making his first-team debut and then being injured for periods of the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons. With Hunt in charge at the start of the 20/21 campaign and more senior players struggling to find form, Ngcobo showed composure and talent to earn trust for more game time than he did under previous coaching regimes. 

When we examine his pizza chart below, it is interesting to note the overall shape of each ‘slice’. Whilst he was given a lot of game time under Hunt, he ranked just ‘above average’ in multiple measurements for his position, possibly indicating him as a general ‘all-rounder’ rather than a reflection of how poor Chiefs have been this season. With Baxter now in charge, it will be interesting to do an analysis of how his output reflects next season.

Whilst the talent is certainly available in the PSL, this level of competition will challenge the players to produce some of their best football yet. With the talent available, everyone will be closely watching with interest how Notoane sets up his team when they play their opening match of the group, especially from a system and tactical aspect. It is important to note that these graphics just depict the output from their playing time in the PSL where they played in different systems, formations, with different team-mates and also varying levels of difficulty.