Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has paid a glowing tribute to his skipper Themba Zwane, saying it will be a huge battle to replace him at the club even the new signing Junior Mendieta can’t.
But Mokwena was happy that the Argentina international was a deciding factor as they beat Richards Bay 1-0 at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday, maintaining their winning start this season to five opening matches, becoming the fourth club to do so in the PSL era.
Mendieta, who was signed from Stellenbosch FC, combined well with another Latin American – Lucas Ribeiro Costa, backheeling the ball to the Brazilian’s path, before running away unchecked to score what was a winning goal.
It was Mendieta’s first goal in his first start, playing in the role of Zwane, who coach Mokwena left on the bench as he is managing his skipper, who this website confirmed is set to be rewarded with a new contract by Sundowns.
“He (Mendieta) is not here to replace Themba Zwane,” said Mokwena.
“You can’t replace Mshishi but of course, you can play without Mshishi. He is a special Mshishi and he is a generational talent.
“Mendieta gives us a lot of options. When we signed him we spoke about it – he’s got a few qualities that we like a lot. His passion, his drive, his aggression, he is very good.
“So he is a player that we anticipated to use in a lot of very different positions.”
Mokwena, who was left emotional in the press conference in which he prematurely called it off, struggled to describe the way the goal was crafted when asked about it, revealing the difficulty he has endured in general that it is easy to coach Sundowns because they have good players and coaching them is the least of things.
“You know the saying that is doing the rounds that any coach can coach Sundowns,” said Mokwena.
“Any coach can bring that goal. I don’t want to talk about it. It is the quality of the players. We have got very good players and it is a beautiful goal.
“We have scored so many beautiful goals this season. In fact, even last season, we scored some amazing goals.”
