AmaTuks benefit from Wendy Shongwe's World Cup experience

Shongwe, a member of the Banyana side that advanced to the second round of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was named player of the match in AmaTuks Ladies' 5-0 thrashing of City Lads in a Hollywoodbets Super League match on Sunday, with a goal and an assist.

"The only thing we always remind Wendy is to try to remain calm and humble because when players come from the World Cup the standard is very high. So you expect them to undermine the level [of local competitions]", the stand-in coach shared with SABC Sport. 

"So we try to remind her that she still needs to do the job and work hard. And that's what she's been doing. She's very humble and her teammates look up to her as a person, and she's always going to be a team player, and that's nice," he said.

Mbentse took charge of the team in the absence of head coach Maud Khumalo, currently in camp with the South African national U20 squad for the U20 women's World Cup qualifiers against Burundi in October. Mbentse reassured her the team was in good hands. 

"I asked her to be our analyst today. I said to her 'Go and analyse the game and at half-time I'll speak to you and you can tell me what is it that you seeing from the other side'. She got it right. She's a good leader within the team and I'm sure wherever she's at, she's very happy for the girls and the results." 

AmaTuks are now unbeaten in nine matches since a 3-0 defeat away to the University of Western Cape in April. As a result, they moved up to fifth place on the log.