Mokwena On Chances Of Winning CAFCL: We Got To Work Hard For It

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena says winning the CAF Champions League is not an obsession to him and his team but it is something this hugely talented squad will win soon.

Sundowns have not won Africa’s holy grail since beating Zamalek in 2016 under coach Pitso Mosimane, where they were initially eliminated in the group stages.

Since then, they have come close to reach only once – in the 2018/19 losing to current winners Wydad Casablanca on penalties.

After that, it has been quarter-finals in the last three seasons, with Petro Atletico Club unexpectedly last term dumping them out where everyone expected to win easily.

Sundowns have been strong this season once again and many have tipped them to win the competition, having crushed record winners Al Ahly 5-2 in the match day four of the group stages.

Following that huge win, Sundowns reached the quarter finals stages with two games to spare and also the first side ever to beat Ahly by five goals on two separate occasions.   

Based on the way they have gone about their business, Sundowns are tipped as one of the favourites to add their second star on their crest this term.

But Mokwena stops short the favourite tag, saying, as much as that is the case, they have to work hard for it as they are other top teams through to the knockout stages.

Sundowns will complete the group stages when they host CotonSport at Loftus Stadium on Saturday (21:00), looking to cement their top spot in Group B.   

“We have the capacity for sure to win the Champions League,” said Mokwena, who was Mosimane’s assistant coach in 2016 when they won the Champions League.

“If we don’t have the belief, then I shouldn’t coach Sundowns. We have very, very good players and we have players that have the ambition to be in that space.

“My answer to you is yes, I believe that. But do I think it is going to be easy? No, it’s not going to be easy. You look at the quality of the teams that are in the quarter finals – teams like Raja Casablanca for example, who haven’t won the Champions League since 1999. But these are teams many, many years older than us.

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“Al Ahly, Wydad – these teams have been trying to win Champions League, competing and working towards that space for many decades. That shows you that we have no God-given rights to consider ourselves favourites, to consider ourselves as the team that can get the Champions League by just pitching up for matches, we have to work very hard for it.

“Of course, that is always number one (to win CCL). At the same time, this is a message I said to the players – the ambition to win Champions League is not an obsession.

“It is the same ambition that comes from a space where we want to win the league title, for example. It is a dream that we hope soon rather later we can turn into a reality.”