Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has defended Mothobi Mvala after his second-minute red card against Petro de Luanda in the African Football League on Tuesday evening.
Mvala, 29, was sent off by the match official after finding himself as the last man and bringing down Tiago Azulao in the second minute of the game.
Sundowns, though, dug deep and and managed to hold on to a goalless draw which put them into the semi-final of the African Football League, progressing 2-0 on aggregate to set up an another clash with African champions, Al Ahly.
Mokwena defended Mvala after the match, saying that the defender will receive nothing but love from himself and the club, and that our society should be a bit less judgemental because everyone makes mistakes.
“No, because I’ve made far more mistakes than Mothobi in my life, far more costlier mistakes in my life,” he said, when asked whether Mvala will still be considered for big games in future after he also scored the own goal, when Sundowns were knocked out of the CAF Champions League last season.
“Of course, we will analyse, we will check, we will speak with him, like with all the other mistakes. Like many of my players make mistakes…
“I’m sounding like a pastor today, am I? Oh, my goodness. The Bible says forgive seven times, 77 times. You know what I mean. And if we genuinely say we love our players, the definition in the Bible of love is love keeps no account of wrongs.
“And so when I tell you that here, I love my players, I genuinely mean that. And so when we make mistakes, we analyze, we check and we move on, or we try to improve.
“Mistakes are there, like problems, and they exist in life, because they present to you opportunities, not just for growth, but for for learning and for finding solutions and getting better.
“And so Mothobi, like all the other players that play for Mamelodi Sundowns, will always receive love from me and from the club and from everybody associated with this football club and never will judge. Because if we start to judge, then we must be put into a space where we are judged.
“And how many of us even sitting in this room can say we are spotless and clean and errorless? How many? No, no, nobody. It’s true. We live in a society where we are so quick to judge others. Yet we forget how sinful we are ourselves. How many mistakes we make ourselves. And yet we’re so quick to judge other people, so quick.
“So exercise a bit of kindness. That’s what this world needs a little bit more than the judgmental mentality, exercise a bit of kindness.
“None of you can tell me that you work for your publications or previous employees and previous companies, and you have made the best articles. Every word you’ve written, you’ve spelled correct every single time. You’ve met deadlines every single time. You’ve arrived at work on time, every single time. You’ve come sober to work every single day.
“You can’t tell me, because life happens. And when life happens, you have to deal with life. And sometimes life happens with the good. And those are the moments that you can’t say to yourself when life have gives you good moments you are in heaven. And so for sure when life happens and it gives you bad moments that you can say you’re in hell.
“So this is just part of the process of educating and making these football players better human beings.”
