Pep Guardiola-inspired Sifiso Mnguni gunning for GDL three-peat
Manchester City may be fourth in the English Premier League standings, with virtually no chance of climbing to the top spot this season, and many criticising their 2024/25 campaign. However, here at home, in South Africa, Highlands Park u19 coach, Sifiso Mnguni, takes inspiration from manager Pep Guardiola‘s tenure with City.
Who can blame Mnguni for drawing strength and learning from Guardiola’s journey at City? After all, the former Spanish international has won six league titles with the club since taking charge in 2016.
Mnguni, who will attempt to lead another defence of the Gauteng Development League (GDL) title this season, highlighted how Guardiola’s unique tactical approach and his belief in his ideas has impacted his own journey as a coach in an exclusive interview with SuperSport Schools Plus.
Mnguni has won back-to-back league titles with the “Lions of the North“, a feat that is incredibly hard to achieve.
“This guy evolved modern-era football. There are things in football that people say can’t happen because it is too risky,” Mnguni said when discussing Guardiola’s impact.
“He went to England and people said you can’t play from the back in England. He played from the back and changed the entire game.
“He changed English football and did the same in Germany and at home in Spain. He’s just a unique guy when it comes to approaching the beautiful game.”
With successive league titles in the bag, Mnguni told SuperSport Schools Plus that the second title carried more weight than the first because of the struggles that Highlands Park went through before coming out on top last season.
“The first one, we had a great team, a team that knew each other very well and a team that showed togetherness,” he said. “The second one, we had a lot of difficulties. It was just so painful. I felt like we needed to work extremely hard to achieve the back-to-back. It was so difficult to get this team going.
“We had to go to the Bayhill tournament [in Cape Town] by bus to build the team, for the players to get to know each other, and for us as the management staff, as well. We grew a lot together in that tournament and came back a totally different team.”
Mnguni will be faced with similar challenges this season. He’s seen many players depart, so it’s time for another rebuild.
However, with the experience he gained last season, Mnguni is confident he can make it work to his benefit and guide Highlands Park to another defence of the league title.
“To be honest, I have lost quite a few players,” he shared. “Egan Freese went to Chiefs, and others are now in the first team because our first team is challenging to get into the ABC Motsepe League and is on top of the log,” Mnguni said.
“We have to restructure and start again. We have four or five boys in the team. When you look at our u17 team and where they finished last year, it’s a bit tricky. It makes it difficult for us. We’ll try to build. For now, we look much better. We look decent.”
Mnguni’s second title defence of the title, and the start of an attempt to make it three GDL crowns on the trot, starts this coming weekend.
