I laugh when people say I failed at Pirates: Sundowns coach Mokwena

Trailblazing Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena says he laughs at people who say his stints in charge of Orlando Pirates and Chippa United were failures.  

Mokwena has taken South African football by storm since his promotion from the previous co-coaching system to head coach of Downs, leading the Brazilians to their sixth successive DStv Premiership title with seven games to go.

While Downs have become used to ruling the roost domestically, their level of dominance has only increased under Mokwena and they are on course to smash the Premiership's points record. The 36-year-old is yet to lose a match after 22 games. 

There are still those who are not convinced, however. They say it is Downs' huge wallet that wins matches and still point to Mokwena's short tenures where he earned mixed results as head coach at Pirates (August to December 2019) and Chippa (March to July 2020).

Speaking after Downs' goalless draw against Cape Town City at Loftus Stadium on Tuesday in their first league match since being crowned 2022-23 champions on Saturday, Mokwena said he can defend his results at Pirates but opts not to.  

“The game of football is such a strange game. The same way I’ve never defended myself — and believe you me, I can defend myself — for the results at Pirates, ” he said.

“People talk about [my stint at] Chippa being a failure, I laugh at those things; Pirates being a failure, I laugh at those things.

“I laugh because I’ve got facts. But there’s a certain narrative that people want to drive. So I’ve got to allow people to drive that narrative. But if I allowed you to drive a narrative in the bad moments, I should allow you to drive the narrative in the good moments.”  

Mokwena joined Pirates in 2017 as assistant to Milutin Sredojevic and when the Serb left became caretaker for 14 matches — winning four, losing five and drawing five. 

Despite his impressive success so far at Sundowns, Mokwena continually deflects praise to his players and the people around them, including the kitchen staff at Chloorkop.

“My refraining from getting too much into that space is because the game of football is a team sport and I believe the game of football belongs to the players. I stay true to that.  

“We as coaches, our jobs are to support and give some form of preparation and assistance to the players and try to help them with their performances. I genuinely believe this.   

“I’d rather not go there because South Africa is a very difficult country, but I guess — and I’ve used this quote before — a prophet will never be celebrated at home.  

“That’s why when people send me things, I’m not surprised that a lot of the write-ups about this team, the coaching and the details actually come from Europe. It's from foreign people rather than from South Africa. So why should I go into that space? It's not for me.”

Sundowns wrapped up the 2022-23 league title without kicking a ball this past weekend when SuperSport United were held to a draw by Chippa United.

The Brazilians meet Swallows FC next at Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

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