Mokwena – Al-Ahly always complain about everything

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena came out swinging ahead of the second leg of their semifinal encounter against Al-Ahly in the African Football League.

His Ahly counterpart Marcel Koller landed the first jab after the 1-0 loss to the Brazilians. He suggested that the match officials denied them a clear penalty when Ronwen Williams appeared to have made contact with Percy Tau late in the game.

Like a boxer that calculates his moves, Mokwena came out of out his corner in a bullish mood when he addressed the media in Cairo on Wednesday afternoon. 

Two heavyweights of African football were separated by Thapelo Maseko’s solitary goal at Loftus Versfeld last Sunday. Mokwena didn’t take kindly to questions on whether the referee aided their course to reach the inaugural AFL final.

“I’m surprised that Al-Ahly always complain about everything. Before the first leg, they complained that we played at 3 pm,” Mokwena said to the packed media gallery in Cairo.

“And yet they are allowed to fixture the game in the second leg in the time that suits them and you hear no complaints from Mamelodi Sundowns.

“I’m surprised that Al-Ahly are always complaining about referees only when they lose. José Mourinho said that once a big club starts to look at other factors apart from football once they lose, they start to lose their status as a big club.

“I hope that’s not the case with Al-Ahly because they are the flagship of African football. The rest of the world and Europe look at Ahly as a reflection of what African football represents. So my question after the complaints is what is the intention because I can go through a list of incidents where referees did not act in what I thought would be right.”

The final uppercut

Mokwena wasn’t done yet, he went for the uppercut as he read out the match statistics from the first match almost like a ring announcer after a boxing fight reading the scorecards. 

“A game of football according to FIFA which governs football globally is that of fair play. It says you can lose, win or draw,” said Mokwena who highlighted how the North Africans were second-best in Tshwane. 

“And when you lose, you show good sportsmanship and you shake hands, especially if the opponent was better than you. So let’s go to the data, Mamelodi Sundowns had 67% ball possession and Al-Ahly only had 33% ball possession.

“(Sundowns had) 89% pass completion from 639 passes completed, double the amount of Ahly’s 340 passes. We had 15 shots at goal and only three for Ahly. When an opponent is better than you, shake hands and show good sportsmanship.”