Mannetti hails Shalulile as ‘ice-breaker’

Former Brave Warriors player and coach Ricardo Mannetti hailed Peter Shalulile after the ace marksman became the top goalscorer in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) history on Saturday.
Shalulile scored his 130th goal from a penalty to break Siyabonga Nomvethe’s longstanding record of 129 goals, while it also gave Sundowns a 1-0 win over Stellenbosch United.
Mannetti, who played for Santos for many years in the PSL, says it was a special occasion at a special venue.
“The Athlone stadium where Peter was playing is very sentimental to me as a former player. That’s where I played 10 years of my professional career at Santos. That’s where I won the league, and I was just hoping and praying that Peter Shalulile can do the same at that special stadium,” he said.
“I was just praying and saying that it has to be at that stadium, please let him score, and so it happened. But as far as I’m concerned, in terms of him breaking the record, I was never surprised. I always knew Peter was special. I always knew Peter will prove everyone wrong, and he’s done so,” he added.
“Peter has a lot of faith in God, and there’s a lot of people that pray for Peter, so this is not only hard work, this is prayer, this is persistence, this is belief to never give up. The last season or so wasn’t the best season for Peter, but even in that, I was never worried, I knew that he would bounce back,” he said.
Mannetti said there could now be no debate about who is Namibia’s best player of all time.
“There were so many debates, and so many times we had to explain why Peter is the best Namibian player ever, why Peter is the best Namibian striker ever.
“But this just kills all the debates, because what do they say now? Numbers don’t lie. It’s not only the numbers though, for me it’s deeper than that. It’s not just about him breaking the record, it’s about him being an ambassador for the country. It’s about him showing everyone, our government, showing corporate Namibia, showing the leaders of the football association, that he’s the ice-breaker, he’s the change and we need to change according to what Peter Shalulile has done right now,” he said.
“We need to take the blueprint into how he did it, so that we can train every young player the same way. Whatever Peter did, we need to copy that and do the same thing,” he said.
Mannetti said Shalulile came from humble beginnings and had to work extra hard to reach the top.
“It was never easy for Peter, and he had to go to extra lengths to be where he is today. So my plea is that one should say that it doesn’t have to be that way. In this era, now 35 years in an independent Namibia, it doesn’t have to be that hard anymore. . . He showed that it’s possible. But can we now do our part and so that it won’t be that difficult for the next player to make it?
“Can we as a country come out and say, ‘wait a minute, the road doesn’t have to be that hard’? That is the problem that I’m having with our structures at the moment. It is way too hard to get to that level,” he added.
“I was just very fortunate to have such a player under me – he made my career and my understanding of football easier and he helped me a lot. It was a real blessing to have coached the best player of his generation and the player that has broken records and showed everyone that there’s a different way of doing things,” he said. 

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