Mokwena refuses to be a praise singer for individuals

Rulani Mokwena showed an aptitude for squad rotation in his Mamelodi Sundowns side that beat TS Galaxy 2-1 at the Mbombela Stadium in the DStv Premiership on Tuesday night.

Mokwena made eight changes and the players made sure that they kept the team’s momentum going as they won a 13th Premiership match on the spin.

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“Huge compliments to the group, we are a good team with very good players and we happen to have very good human beings in the change room,” said Mokwena, whose side sit a massive 19 points clear at the top of the table, and next play Sekhukhune on Saturday. 

“It becomes a lot easier when you have those kinds of human beings.

“We have a difficult one coming up on Saturday so we have to try and get better because we could have scored more goals. We created a lot of chances.” 

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The likes of Sipho Mbule, Andile Jali, Thapelo Morena, and Peter Shalulile all put up their hands for the Man-of-the-Match gong. But in the end, Sphelele Mkhulise scooped the prize.

“There were some great individual performances. But we can get better and we will continue to get better. I am not one to speak about individual performances because I don’t want to say to the group that ‘this player did this, this player did that,’ added Mokwena. 

“But there were a lot of good performances and when you have a good team performance it means you need to have some standout performers. Congratulations to everybody and we are very proud of the team.”

Update on De Reuck

The Downs mentor gave an update on Rushine De Reuck, who suffered a mild concussion immediately after scoring Sundowns’ opening goal. 

“Rushine is on his feet, it is very good to see that he has regained consciousness. The medical team must be given a lot of praise. Both medical teams from TS Galaxy and Sundowns gave a prompt response.

“He is walking again and that is very good. He scored a very important goal for us which opened the game up a bit and we are grateful that he is in a condition where he can recognise his surroundings – we are very proud of his contribution to the win.”