Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has showered words of praise on Harambee Stars defender Brian ‘Niang’ Onyango Mandela after the player’s recent sterling performance in the Brazilians’ jersey over the last few games.Having had a slow start at the club since signing back in October 2020, the Kenyan international has burst onto the scene especially this year and February to be particular where he has played in, and completed the full game in six consecutive matches that Sundowns have not lost (W4 D2).Of the six encounters, Niang’ helped the term record five clean sheets as they only conceded only one goal in all competitions. With his combative no nonsense style of play and physical presence at the back, the Kenyan international was named in the continental CAF Champions League team of the week after his superb performance kept out record African champions Al Ahly as Sundowns picked a historic 0-1 win in Cairo, Egypt.Congratulations to Brian Onyango on making it to CAF Team of the week (Best XI of Matchday 2) pic.twitter.com/4OiL7KlYrw— Mamelodi Sundowns Fixtures and Results (@sundownsFCNews) February 22, 2022 Following the recent showing, Mngqithi heaped praise on the former Tusker defender as he admitted to a very tremendous change in the Kenyan’s form.“We are impressed with how he has adjusted and he has been working hard. Physically, he is improving match in and match out, his build-up has improved tremendously, his combat style of football is also helping us and he is very strong in the air, one against one,” the coach is quoted on The KickOff.Brian Onyango in the 27 games he’s featured has suffered two losses.🇩🇿 CRB 0-2🇿🇦 KC 1-2✅ 16 wins⚖️ 9 draws❌ 2 losses Of the 27 games played , 17 clean sheets were recorded. https://t.co/AZAtX0YYAK pic.twitter.com/d5j9DyY1sh— Lorenz Köhler (@Lorenz_KO) February 28, 2022 “The previous match, he was one of the players amongst the continental team in the CAF. I always say to people, he is one of the fastest centre-backs but not many people can believe that. I think and believe we are starting to reap on some of that because we are hardly get caught out on counter-attacks and we are hardly caught in situations when a striker will outrun a centre-back,” Mngqithi added. Zachary Gathu: Three promotions and a graceful growth out of the gameThe Sundowns head coach went on to state that despite his improved sowing over the last month, there is still a lot more to come from the defender.“If you saw me after the match (against TS Galaxy) I went to speak to him to say he has picked his hand up. His performances are growing week in and week out. We are happy with the progress has made but we believe he can still do more,” he concluded.Onyango signed a three year deal at Sundowns with an option to for a further year.
