“We played the game well, we were comfortable and even though we had a few jitters in certain moments due to a few misplaced passes, I thought we were very good and applied ourselves very well.
“They have players that are experienced, a very good team and a very good coach who has been in this space. But we were good apart from the challenge of the pitch.
“I thought we were very good in certain moments of the game, especially on the ball and congratulations to our team. These are three important points in the group stages.”
Sundowns now travel to Cameroon where they meet Conton Sport in their second Group B game at Stade Omnisport Roumdé Adjia in Garoua on Friday night (6pm SA time).
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Mokwena full of praise for Sundowns after tough win over Al-Hilal
Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena was full of praise for his charges after their hard-fought 1-0 Caf Champions League group stages win over Sudanese side All-Hilal at Loftus on Saturday.
Mokwena said his players applied themselves well against tricky Al-Hilal, who are coached by experienced Democratic Republic of the Congo tactician Florent Ibengé, to get all three valuable points and keep a clean sheet at home in their Group B opener.
“First was to get the three points but the target is to move to as close as possible to 10,” he said after the game.
“History tells you the lowest number of points to come out of the group stages is four. We want to try to get as close as possible to ten points because that almost guarantees you a position in the knockouts. Three points, regardless, of the scoreline is very important and we also managed a good clean sheet.”
Though he was satisfied with the gusty performance of his players, Mokwena admitted they should have scored more goals.
“It could have been more. I think we scored a very good goal for the second one and unfortunately it was adjudged offside but in certain moments we were very good and we played the game according to our strengths.
Mamelodi Sundowns v Al-Hilal highlights
“We played the game well, we were comfortable and even though we had a few jitters in certain moments due to a few misplaced passes, I thought we were very good and applied ourselves very well.
“They have players that are experienced, a very good team and a very good coach who has been in this space. But we were good apart from the challenge of the pitch.
“I thought we were very good in certain moments of the game, especially on the ball and congratulations to our team. These are three important points in the group stages.”
Sundowns now travel to Cameroon where they meet Conton Sport in their second Group B game at Stade Omnisport Roumdé Adjia in Garoua on Friday night (6pm SA time).
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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