NEWS: 'The whole office was like 'we are not bringing him back, he ...
Former Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane backs his protege Rulani Mokwena, insisting the Mamelodi Sundowns mentor is one of the best coaches on the African continent amid reported turmoil at Chloorkop.
Mokwena and Downs sporting director Flemming Berg are reported to be at loggerheads, with the crux of their differences being the handling of transfers at the Chloorkop.
Sundowns parted ways with Gaston Sirino, Thabiso Kutumela, Brian Onyango, and Bongani Zungu, who Mokwena said he would have loved to keep at the club but the decision of who stays and who goes is out of his control.
Be that as it may, Mokwena still enjoys the backing of his mentor, Mosimane, who took him in as a rough diamond and polished the 37-year-old.
“When he left Orlando Pirates and left Chippa United, and then I [mentioned] his name at Sundowns, it was a revolution.
“Everybody said ‘Look at what happened at Chippa and at Pirates, he is not good’. But I said he is the one. History says it, Mosimane told Hollywoodbets Brand Ambassador Robert Marawa on 947.
“When I got him from the Under-19 of Sundowns – I did not bring him from the DStv Diski Challenge team, I took him from the Under-19s.
“Everyone was saying ‘Come on, you can get a better assistant’. But I said I want that one. I watched his training sessions and the way he commanded it,” Mosimane explained.
Mosimane is the second most successful coach in the CAF Champions League, winning it three times and has one less than Manuel Jose, who enjoyed unparalleled success with Al Ahly.
‘Jingles’ has the most DStv Premiership titles with five to his name, while Mokwena now has two to his name as a sole head coach.
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Mosimane’s CV is unmatched by any active coach in Africa, but yet the former Bafana head coach believes Mokwena has greater potential than him.
“I once said he (Mokwena) can be better than me and I think he is better than me. I think Carlo Ancelotti will say Pep Guardiola is better than him because it is a new school and everything, but Ancelotti has got five Uefa Champions League trophies. Pep has one, there is still a journey.
“Rulani is yet to win his Champions League and he will win it and he will go to the FIFA Club World Cup and get the bronze medal and that means you are the third-best team in the world, so we must give him time and he will do that,” Mosimane concluded.
