Mokoena hails ‘special’ award as Sundowns set early standard

Teboho Mokoena was the recipient of the maiden DStv Premiership Man of the Match award this season as he played a starring role in Mamelodi Sundowns’ 2-0 win over Cape Town City at the DHL Stadium in the Mother City.

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Mokoena, who is in his first full season with Sundowns – he joined the side in January – was happy to take to the field with his favourite No.4 on his back, which was gracefully given to him by his friend and teammate, Grant Kekana, who donned it last season. However, Mokoena was happier to have marked the start of the season with an individual gong.

“Today (Friday) is a very special day for me,” he told SuperSport TV after the game.

“It is my late grandfather’s birthday and I dedicate this award to him and I hope he is watching over me,” he added.

“Cape Town City is very hard to play at home. I must give the credit to the gents and the technical team. We worked very hard as a team and we tried to create as many chances as possible and we managed to convert the chances. We set the tone for the season and we will take it from here,” he added.

His teammate, Ronwen Williams, who made his debut after joining for SuperSport United, was happy to begin his Downs stay with a cleansheet as he got the nod to start ahead of club captain Denis Onyango.  

“I am just happy to get the first game out of the way now. There was a lot of emphasis on the cleansheet and we started on the positive note. I am happy that I played my part and had a good game. This is a stepping stone for great things to come for this team,” he told SuperSport TV before he went on to paint a picture of the Masandawana goalkeeping department.

“I have worked with most of them before in my previous club and we are a special unit. We are a team and we push each other, we can only learn from each other because we all have our different experiences over the years. We’ve won many things and now it is for me to learn from them. We are pushing each other every day and this cleansheet is for all of us,” Williams said.