Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos admits Rulani Mokwena’s tenure at Mamelodi Sundowns was impressive but had one disappointment.
Mokwena won every trophy on offer during his three seasons as head coach of the club, with the exception of the CAF Champions League.
Last season, he won the inaugural African Football League (AFL) and was one game from finishing the league as invincible champions.
But it wasn’t enough as Sundowns parted ways with the coach before his highly-publicised switch to Morocco with Wydad Athletic Club.
During his time at Sundows, there was often a back and forth with the South Africa national team coach Hugo Broos in the media, but the legendary Belgian was complimentary of the coach’s achievements with Masandawana.
“It’s true that to coach at Mamelodi Sundowns, you have to be a great coach. Secondly, Sundowns buy the best players in the league every year. They have a core of 35 players, it’s incredible,” Broos said on Canal+.
“These 35 players can make up three teams that would be top in many African leagues. So, the quality of players is there, but it is also difficult to manage 35 players, and he did it indeed for the better part of three years.
“I never heard of players being unhappy, even though I’m sure that some were unhappy, but problems between him and his players never came out.
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“On top of all of that, his results were very good, except, of course, and this was the big disappointment, he never made it, to the [Champions League] final.”