Wydad Athletic Club head coach Sven Vandenbroeck says the influence of Pep Guardiola on Rulani Mokwena is obvious as he lavished praise on the Mamelodi Sundowns tactician.
Mokwena has not made a secret of his admiration of the iconic Spanish coach who has revolutionised football over the past two decades with a distinctive attack-minded, possession-orientated style of play with FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City.
He addressed the topic of studying and learning from Guardiola in edition 100 of the iDiski Times newspaper, which you can read for free HERE.
It’s generated interest across the globe with widespread recognition and plaudits, with many claiming Africa has yet to see football at this level produced by Masandawana in the 2022/23 season.
And the Wydad coach admits it proves a highly unpredictable task to try and plan for.
“Coach Rulani, he’s [been] following Pep Guardiola for a long period, so he has a lot of variations [of tactics], in Morocco, he tried one and I think he has another three or four [variations]. So yes it’s a lot of work [to try and compete against him], that’s why two weeks work or three days preparation is sometimes not enough,” he said when asked if he’s expecting a similar Sundowns game plan tomorrow.
“You can give a lot of information to players, but you cannot cover everything, so even tomorrow in the game, we will be very concentrated on what we’re doing, observing what they are doing, and trying to find solutions.
“The problem in Morocco was there were 60 to 70 thousand [fans] and the players can’t hear you all the time so we had to wait until half-time to rectify things but then the red card came, so we didn’t have to [change] with one man more… But I’m pretty sure tomorrow, the coach will surprise us again.”
When probed what brought about the Guardiola comments and comparisons, he stated it’s something he read about in the media and it’s also evident when facing the DStv Premiership champions on the field of play.
“I don’t need to think [he follows Guardiola], I think he said it already in the newspapers as well, that’s one; when you follow football where you working in Africa, you read such things and two; he’s very innovating in how he’s playing, how he created majorities on the pitch, sometimes central, sometimes wide,” Vandenbroeck said.
“When you see these patterns, it corresponds to only one coach and that is Guardiola, and only now maybe Arteta from Arsenal, so one; he said it in the newspapers, two; you see it on the pitch, so it’s quite obvious.”
Sundowns, who draw 0-0 in the first leg semi-final last week, host the champions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon at 15h00 for the return leg clash.
