CAPE TOWN – Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane feels that intentional foul play should receive harsher punishment.
Mosimane was talking after the Brazilians' 1-1 Premiership draw with Cape Town City in Atteridgeville on Tuesday night.
The incident he was referring to came in the 64th minute when with Sundowns substitute Keletso Makalgwa in full flight on the attack, was rather cynically brought down by City defender Thamsanqa Mkhize.
One cannot assume what Mkhize's exact intentions were, and it's unlikely he purposely tried to injure Makalgwa – a player Mosimane recently dubbed as having the potential to become the next Percy Tau.
Thamsanqa Mkhize is not Pitso Mosimane's 'favourite' player following Tuesday's match. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Mkhize's foul did, however, appear to be an intentional one, and it resulted in Makalgwa having to leave the field - with what was a reported Achilles tendon injury.
Mosimane provided some food for thought after the match when he said that a player in Mkhize's position should now be suspended for as long as it takes Makalgwa to recover.
“When you go for his Achilles tendon - for me if you do that, it should not be a yellow card. Even if you give him a yellow now, he must wait for Keletso to come back (from injury),” he said. “If Keletso is out for three weeks, he (Mkhize) should also come back after three weeks.
“Because he (Makalgwa) is out, but he (Mkhize) stayed on the pitch. When you deliberately injure a player, you should wait for him to come back. I know everyone is going to say I am doing my own rules, but I think it makes sense.”
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It's very unlikely though that such a ruling would ever come into place.
But what the football authorities could consider, is clamping down on professional fouls – those fouls committed intentionally to stop their opponents' counter-attack, for example.
It's no secret that it's part of the game and that many managers encourage (albeit secretly) their players to 'take one for the team'.
As the law currently stands, a player committing such a professional foul will only be red-carded when he is the last defender between the attacking player and the goal.
Players know this, and use it to their advantage.
Perhaps, any foul deemed to have been made intentionally to stop a dangerous opposition attack should be deemed as a sending-off offence, no matter where it takes place on the field.
There's also the option of the guilty party being given an additional few games suspension in obvious cases.