Rulani Mokwena has hailed his counterpart Florent Ibenge for his achievements during his coaching career, but insisted the focus in their CAF Champions League clash will be on the players.
Ibenge, 61, coached the Congolese national team between 2014 and 2019, leading them to the African Nations Championship title in 2016 and a third place at the 2015 AFCON.
He did his national team role simultaneously with leading Congolese giants, AS Vita, with whom he won three Linafoot title and finished runners up in the CAF Champions League in 2014.
South African fans, in particular from Soweto, will remember Ibenge after his RS Berkane side beat Orlando Pirates in last year’s CAF Confederations Cup final on penalties.
However, he then moved to become coach of Al Hilal, who are leading the Sudan Premier League with 44 points – two more than second-placed Al Merreikh, with both side’s having only lost one league game so far.
On Saturday, Sundowns will face Ibenge’s in-form side and Mokwena revealed how much respect he has for his counterpart on the sidelines.
“I’ve got big respect for Ibenge,” the Downs tactician said.
“I first met him when we played against Vita a couple of years ago, I was still the assistant at Mamelodi Sundowns.
“And to see how his career has progressed and how he’s done exceptionally well as an African coach, is something that brings a lot of motivation, gives a lot of pride also but also gives good inspiration.”
However, Mokwena also highlighted that it’s not important who coaches the teams on the sidelines, but what the players will do on the pitch at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
“But as I always say, we give too much importance to coaches in South Africa and I think we’re not that important,” he added.
“I think the game belongs to the players and at the end of the day it’s 11 vs 11 on the pitch, it’s the Sundowns players vs Al Hilal players and those are the people that everybody plays money [for] to come and watch.
“They don’t come to watch us the coaches. So the match-up is of irrelevance in my opinion, because the most important people in a football match are the players.”
