BONGANI MALUNGA
Orapa United are set to appoint Czech Republic born coach Tomas Trucha as their new head coach on a two year deal. The appointment will see Mpote making way for the European coach and he will now be deployed as the development team coach.
Trucha is a highly qualified coach who boasts UEFA A, UEFA B and UEFA PRO coaching badges, he has worked for South African lower league side FC Cape Town as an assistant coach and a development team coach.
The European coach also served as a Technical Director for Czech club, FC Banik Ostrava, the club has made appearances in the UEFA Champions League (preliminary qualification stage) as well as the Europa League (qualifying stage) in the last 14 years. Trucha will arrive in what was quickly becoming a toxic working environment between members of the club’s technical team according to unconfirmed reports.
A source claims that Mpote had a misunderstanding with his technical team and as a result of the disjointed atmosphere the club’s management has reportedly had to wait for match reports of the last five games, none of which have been prepared yet according to the source.
Orapa United are currently on a five match win-less run, their last league victory was against title rivals Township Rollers on November 10. They were recently eliminated by Angolan side Petro de Luanda after losing 6-0 on aggregate in the first stages of the CAF Confederation Cup and they were also recently eliminated by BDF XI in the Mascom Top 8.
However, it is not all doom and gloom at Orapa as they are only three points behind Rollers having played a game more than Popa, the club still has a chance to make a serious title challenge under their new Czech coach.