‘Great players with great attitude’ – Mokwena heaps praise on Sundowns players
'All the credit goes to our players', beamed the Sundowns co-coach.
Rhulani Mokwena, co-coach of Mamelodi Sundowns. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rhulani Mokwena praised his players for putting the official qualification stamp for the Caf Champions League quarterfinals after they beat Al-Hilal Omdurman 4-2 in a thrilling tie in Sudan this past Saturday.
Downs had to soldier on with 10-man after Brian Onyango was sent off in the 11th minute. Sundowns had already booked their place in the last-eight when they completed the double over Al-Ahly in Group A, but made their group-leader status guaranteed with this victory.
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“All the credit goes to our players, we have a very good group of players with great attitude. We knew we had to deal with their speed and constant diagonal balls and the creativity of Abdul Ajagun but we were prepared and the players showed great spirit and good tactical discipline,” said Mokwena.
“It is never an easy game to play knowing that you have already qualified, it becomes even more difficult when you have to deal with playing against a good Al-Hilal side that is trying to qualify. What made it even more difficult was having to play most of the match one-man down.
He added: “This made the game very difficult for our team but instead of complaining, we got on with the business and we showed respect for our badge and for the nation and we played the game the way it was supposed to be played. Huge congratulations to our players for a gallant fight and fantastic spirit and showing deligiance to make sure that we win the game.”
Sundowns have a final pool game against Al-Merreikh where they are likely to remove their foot off the pedal and possibly field some of their less used players. The match is scheduled for next month at a venue to be announced by Masandawana.
“Congratulations to Sundowns for officially qualifying. We went into the match with 10 points and even before we could play, the result in the game between Al-Ahly and Al-Merreikh gave us a guarantee that we will be in the quarterfinals,” said Mokwena.
