Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says the constant jibes against him from rival coaches do affect him.
Over the last few weeks, TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic launched a scathing attack against Mokwena, while Gavin Hunt has thrown subtle jibes about his character and tactics.
It wasn’t the first time Mokwena has come under attack and he gave a simple quote from what he referred to as received from a close friend, that settled his emotions around it.
“They do [affect me], I don’t respond, it’s part of the territory I suppose, but someone said something very interesting to me the other day,” Mokwena stated.
“A friend of mine was more emotional about one of the jabs than I was, and then I pushed it aside and he said yeah it’s true because he said ‘shade that comes from a tree that bares no fruit, doesn’t matter’… and believe me… actually no [I won’t say more].”
Mokwena’s charges are preparing to face Pyramids on Sunday in a highly competitive CAF Champions League group with all four sides equal on three points after two games played.
Sundowns eased past FC Nouadhibou 3-0 and lost 1-0 to TP Mazembe, while the Egyptian side beat the Congolese giants 1-0 and lost 2-0 to the Mauritanian league champions.
And this is something that’s brought excitement amongst the group, as they target the knockout stages of Africa’s elite club competition.
“We’re looking forward to [the game], for the first time today, in very long time, when we finished training, they wanted more, normally when we finish training they are off the pitch very quickly to try and recover,” Mokwena said at Chloorkop on Friday afternoon.
“Today they wanted more of the session, more work to stay a bit longer on the pitch and that’s always a good sign, so I’m very proud of this group and the work they’ve done and what they’ve achieved.
“But we also understand we can’t be in the mind of still the best team, still in the competitions, still AFL champions, still… it counts for nothing these things, when you start using the word ‘still’ too many times, you know you’re living in the past and making little progress.
“So we want to focus on what we have to do this year and what we have to do this year means we want to get out the group and qualify for the knockouts, because that’s where we believe the Champions League starts.”
Sundowns host the Cairo-based outfit on Sunday afternoon at 15h00.
