Mokwena to stick to his playing style in Champions League

Mamelodi Sundowns will not abandon the tough juggling act of playing beautiful football while pursuing that elusive second Caf Champions League title.

ALSO READ: Sundowns through to Champions League group stages

That’s according to their head coach Rulani Mokwena who is sticking to his guns of playing eye-catching football despite the failures of last season in the competition.

The robust nature of Caf’s most prized club competition requires a mixture of expansive and direct football in order to go all the way.

Despite playing some eye-catching football in the last campaign, The Brazilians came up short when it mattered the most against Wydad Casablanca in the semi-finals. 

“The most important thing is to continue winning and that is the pressure we have at Mamelodi Sundowns,” Mokwena said after his team qualified for the group stages of the Champions League on Saturday.

“When we lost in the Champions League semi-final last season, people said that you can play bad and win, we want you to win and we don’t care (how). I said ‘no, we will do it a certain way’ and I’m still in that space.

“We want to build a certain way of playing but at the same time we want to continue winning and that’s a collective effort. That’s training, playing and understanding of small details. It will come but it takes a bit of time especially when you have a lot of games but we will improve.”

The Brazilians crushed Burundian side Bumamuru 6-0 on aggregate to move to the next phase of the competition.

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Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates were shockingly knocked out of Africa’s premier club competition by Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana.

“The bare minimum and expectations is to make sure that the team is always in the group stage,” said Mokwena who was an assistant coach to Pitso Mosimane when Sundowns won the coveted competition in 2016.

“It’s not easy, we’ve had incredible experiences even in my little bit of experience of being part of the technical team as an assistant coach. I can remember the game against Chicken Inn FC and it was so difficult to qualify.

“These games can easily be banana skins if you don’t respect the opposition and respect the games. You will find yourself in a little bit of trouble so that’s why you’ve got to give credit to this group for having the mentality and the professionalism.”