Ex-Sundowns stars Pelembe, Miquissone back for Mozambique

Former Mamelodi Sundowns stars Elias Pelembe (a.k.a. Domingues) and Luís Miquissone have crawled their way back into the Mozambique national team squad.

Mambas coach Chiquinho Conde announced the recall of the veteran attackers when he released a provisional squad list for the forthcoming friendly later in November. The former Sundowns duo is well-known for their time spent in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).

Domingues and Miquissone were sidelined for over a year for separate reasons. While Conde felt it was time to exclude Miquissone and focus on other players, for the ex-SuperSport star the reason was different.

How ex-Sundowns star Pelembe fell out with Mozambique coach

The ageless winger fell out with Conde after he failed to report for a national team call-up in March 2025, citing the delayed release of his passport, a justification the coach felt was not explained properly and reported to the Mozambique Football Federation.

Consequently, the 41-year-old, who currently plays for União Desportiva de Songo in Mozambique, was banished from the national team.

Domingues, considered among the PSL greats, wrote the letter to the coach in reaction to his exclusion from Mozambique’s squad for World Cup qualifiers played in October.

In the letter, the attacker explained that he learned about his call up of March 11, 2025 while at his Tete base, but only received his passport three days later due to flight problems.

“The reasons why my passport did not arrive on time at the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF) were, in real time, within the control of the national team’s administrative structure and the FMF Board.”

However, Conde faulted Pelembe for using a wrong platform to respond to the issue at hand. The winger released his letter on social and mainstream media.

The coach said he respects Pelembe and that is why he recalled him to the national team despite that his predecessors Luís Gonçalves and Horácio Gonçalves had dropped him.

Now, Conde has recalled the duo into the Mambas squad to face Morocco on November 14, 2025 in a warm up match for the Africa Cup of Nations finals scheduled at the end of the year.