Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says they will not sacrifice their principles of how they want to play football after another CAF Champions League disappointment.
Sundowns held the lead twice over champions Wydad at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon but were eventually dumped out after the second leg semi-final ended 2-2 and they exited via the away goal ruling.
Having prompted the question a couple of weeks ago, over the North African formula of winning at all costs, sacrificing stylish football at times, Mokwena insisted the way they set up will be the way they win Africa’s elite club competition.
But one could argue with a bit more pragmatism, perhaps shoring up the defence in the final stages, with a defence-first mentality in the dying stages, Sundowns would have been finalists alongside Al Ahly, whom they beat 5-2 in the group stages.
“When we don’t win, we open the door for a lot of the talk,” Mokwena said when asked by iDiski Times why they didn’t play ugly in the final minutes to secure the victory.
“The topic of style of play is a very interesting topic. But it’s a topic that has been posed, not just to me so I have to understand that, first and foremost. Even greater and more successful coaches have had to answer that question.
“What I know and what I respect is that there’s more than just one way to win – but there’s also more than one way to live life and football being what it is; a reflection of society, in the bad, you’re not good enough, in the good, you’re probably still not good enough and that’s the judgment because there are others that feel they can do it different or better.
“But I think we’ve done it the pragmatic way a couple of times and it also hasn’t worked, we’ve done it the percentage football way and it also hasn’t worked, so let’s give this [style of play], let’s give it a little bit of time before you cast judgment.”
Mokwena went on to reiterate that it’s not something selfish, it’s not an obsession when discussing their desire to win the Champions League, while addressing that winning the title in a specific manner is deeply rooted and engraved in the culture of Masandawana.
“I said a few months ago, it’s not an obsession, it’s a dream and this was the reason why I said this, I’ve been at this football club for many years, in a capacity that was not the capacity that I happened to find myself privileged to serve this football club currently,” he continued.
“But how I see football, how I feel the game, fortunately, is how this club feels the game and how this club sees the game – and we will continue with this dream and we will win the Champions League, but not be this season, or next season – but eventually we’ll win.
“And we will win it, playing the way the club, its supporters, its culture because if you want to change the style of football you have to take out a lot of what speaks to this club, the colours of this club are synonymous with the nickname attached to this club.
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“It’s a nickname synonymous with a certain style of play, and then if you change, completely your identity, you have to eradicate a lot of years written about Mamelodi Sundowns football club.”
