Ralani not your average dribbling wizard, says Mokwena

Normally at mid-30s, football players are reaching the twilight of their careers where most of them move away from the spotlight  and the natural contemplation of hanging up boots becomes a regular occurrence. The football gods wrote a rather unusual script for Bradley Ralani, who at 34 years, made a move to one of the top three sides in the league and a team that happens to be living by its big team status, by both dominance on the pitch and in the transfer market.

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Ralani penned an 18-month deal with an option to extend as he left Cape Town City to join the star-studded Masandawana outfit. His coach, Rhulani Mokwena accepts the level of criticism directed at him and his co-head coach Manoqba Mngqithi for deciding to sign a 34-year-old while there are the likes of the more youthful Sphelele Mkhulise, Lebogang Maboe, Promise Mkhuma, Lesedi Kapinga and Neo Maema.

Mokoena explains the rationale behind the capture of the skillful attacker, basing his justification on some statistics.  

“Ralani is what we could call an outlier. His numbers suggest that there is a huge difference between Ralani and the average performances in the league. Ralani is contributing about 1.4 scoring opportunities on average, while the average in the Premier Soccer League is 0.37. He also measures about six key passes a game and already those numbers are higher than what you would get in the PSL,” Mokoena said.

“His dribbles average at 4.1 successful dribbles in a match as compared to 2.3 across the board in this league. You look at where all of these actions are happening? Fortunately he was playing for City – a team with a lot of high press. Ralani was winning balls in very aggressive places that resulted into chances. His numbers clearly suggest that he is a player that can come in and clearly contribute to improving the squad,” he added.

The Downs mentor continued: “Then you are looking for the experience of having played in Europe and has already acclimatized to the local league. His experience offers us an opportunity to have the younger players benefit from him, not just about the conduct off the pitch but how he carries himself in between the lines and how he is always a danger for the next line.”