Themba Zwane of Mamelodi Sundowns receives the African Football League trophy from FIFA President Gianni Infantino and CAF President Patrice Motsepe on Sunday. Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Capturing the African Football League (AFL) title on Sunday following a 2-0 win over Wydad Casablanca has made Mamelodi Sundowns captain Themba Zwane even more determined to pursue that second elusive CAF Champions League title.
For all their success on the domestic front, it has been an agonising seven-year wait since the Brazilians last lifted the biggest club prize on the African continent.
Zwane was part of the 2016 team that went all the way in the competition. The Tshwane-based side has found it hard to repeat the success of the team that was led by then head coach Pitso Mosimane.
The 34-year-old midfield maestro is not resting on his laurels after yet another piece of silverware to his trophy-laden career.
“I want to win the Champions League again and obviously win something with the national team,” Zwane said while revealing his ambitions with Bafana Bafana.
“There’s AFCON coming and if I can get that one then I will be happy. My message to the Yellow Nation is that we want to win the Champions League again and win a seventh league title in a row because that’s our culture.
“Today was special for us because we won this (AFL) in front of our own supporters and I would like to give credit to the team, technical team and all the support we got. We did well and tried to stick to the plan because we knew what they were capable of.”
Zwane also reflected on his journey that saw him join Sundowns in 2011 from amateur team Vardos FC.
“To be honest when I joined the team I was not sure (if I could make it). The only thing I was sure about was to try and learn from the big boys,” the soff-spoken Zwane said about the self-doubt that he first had upon signing for the team
“Because the first season when I came here, there were a lot of big players. You can name them like Katlego Mphela, Surprise Moriri and Teko Modise. I gave myself time to learn from them and try to improve myself as a player knowing for sure that if I can do that, I can win trophies for the team.”
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