Rulani On CAFCL Draw, Reveals Minimum Target

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has commented on his side’s CAF Champions League group and revealed the club’s first goal in the competition.

Downs received a very similar group to the one from 2021, with record champions Al Ahly and Sudanese side Al Hilal again in their group.

Last time, Downs easily made it out of the group with 16 points after beating Al Ahly – then coached by Pitso Mosimane twice – but were knocked out in the quarter-final by Petro de Luanda.

Mokwena, who enters this year’s competition as sole head coach, has reacted to drawing familiar opponents, even though both Al Ahly and Al Hilal have new coaches.

“I think, first is to recognise that there’s a lot of very difficult teams that have made it into the group stages of the Champions League, as you can expect that,” he told the club’s media department.

“The Champions League over the years now has always become such a difficult competition a difficult competition for everybody and regardless of who we had picked or we were pitted against in the groups it was always going to be very, very difficult. And that is an acceptation that we’ve made and we’ve come to understand. 

“There are huge resemblances with regards to familiarity from 2021 in the group that we had, again, we travel to Al Ahly in Egypt. We had a very interesting trip to Sudan, which we again anticipate for this season and a difficult team in Al Hilal with some very good players and some players that we are very familiar with like Gerald Phiri and and of course, even though they’ve changed coaches from what they had last season, but still a lot of Portuguese influence within the team and a very experienced coach.

“Someone who’s very, very used to the terrain and possibly the pressures and the stresses that come that come with the Champions League. 

“And then there’s an interesting trip to to Coton Sport and one that we we are looking forward to travel to Cameroon and see how far we can get into this group.” 

Mokwena also insisted that the club’s minimum target in the CAF Champions League is to make it out of the group, with many expecting Masadawana to go far in this year’s competition after the investment they’ve made into the squad.

“But of course, again, the challenge for us number one is obviously to get out of the group, that’s the number one goal to get as close to the points that we need to qualify and make it into the knockout stages,” he added.