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Although cautious not to get ahead of himself so early in the DStv Premiership, coach Steve Komphela isn’t dismissing there’s a high probability Moroka Swallows could be among the teams to watch this season.
The Dube Birds are currently fourth on the table after eight matches, an improvement from their position at this stage of the campaign last year.
Komphela was asked if he is surprised how quickly it’s all falling into place.
"All that I did, I brought my skill. Obviously, you know that there's gonna be challenges in environments where you get appointed and the fact that the environment was not as clear based on where I came from. It would have been very difficult honestly for me to say 'I know that we'll win the league, I know that we'll be at position 2," Komphela said.
Komphela wants to leverage the history of Swallows as one of the traditional high-profile Soweto giants in South Africa, which faded along the way over the years.
"All that I knew was that there was an opportunity to develop something from a product of years with heritage and history. To try and see if we could revive it. Which is why even when we were in camp in Potchefstroom, we termed it the rebirth of Moroka Swallows.
I hope it will be but I never anticipated that at this we'll be here. It's a great position to be at, even though to be very honest, we still have a long way to go. There's 22 matches to play, it's still gonna be a lot of battles along the way," Komphela added.
The Dube Birds’ next league fixture is against log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, an encounter Komphela hopes doesn’t catch them having lost their momentum because of the FIFA break.
"It's gonna be a bit difficult, maybe by the time they come, we would have done our work at training. We would have played maybe practice matches but they are not the same.
We would have loved to play against Mamelodi Sundowns at the back of some of sort of rhythm.
Match fitness and some sort of having a feel of the match. The feel of the match then would have been a little bit distanced but the occasion itself is gonna invite some emotion."
