Mokwena praises Sundowns’ ‘excellent shift’ in Luanda against Petro

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has dismissed suggestions they are as good as in the semifinals of the hugely lucrative new African Football League (AFL) after a 2-0 win over Petro Atlético at the Estadio 11 de Novembro in Angola on Saturday. 

Second-half goals by attackers Marcelo Allende and substitute Thapelo Maseko in Luanda gave Sundowns a major advantage for the second leg in Pretoria on Tuesday. 

“This is only halftime and there is a second leg that’s still to come,” Mokwena said. 

“You have seen many things happen in football, you have seen teams come back from greater scorelines. We look forward to taking the scoreline to South Africa but we approach it as 0-0 and a different ball game.” 

The coach was boosted by the return of Ronwen Williams, Mothobi Mvala, Grant Kekana, Teboho Mokoena, Aubrey Modiba and Themba Zwane who missed the Carling Knockout loss to TS Galaxy midweek as they were returning from Bafana Bafana's 1-1 friendly draw against Ivory Coast in Abidjan. 

Sundowns and Atlético have history on the continent with the Angolans having knocked the Tshwane giants out of the Caf Champions League in the quarterfinals in 2022.

Mokwena said the AFL tie is not about revenge.

“I never use the word revenge and never does my heart have those types of intentions. 

“I like to live life as an optimistic person with good energy and positivity, so the word revenge doesn’t exist because it comes from a dark place.” 

The Brazilians went into this match after successive penalty shoot-out defeats to Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final and TS Galaxy in the Carling Knockout last 16. 

Against Galaxy on Wednesday, Downs were severely depleted by their missing international stars as the game — rescheduled by the Premier Soccer League to make space for their AFL participation — took place the day after Bafana's game in Ivory Coast.

The understrength Sundowns — who also lost Bongani Zungu to a red card in the second half for a horror challenge that broke Pernard Parker's leg, still managed to fight back from 2-0 down and force the game to penalties. 

“My message to the players was to remind them about a match we played two or three days ago in a cup game in South Africa. At halftime we were 2-0 down and we came back in the second half to make it 2-2,” Mokwena told the Angolan media in his post-match press conference on Saturday. 

“This is half time, there is still 90 minutes to be played, so it is important for us to stay humble, stay focused and respect our opponent because of the quality that they have and go out there and play the game not the scoreline.” 

Mokwena said Sundowns beat a well put together team. 

“We beat a good side with good organisational forms, difficult to deal with the overloads they create. I gave you the [Petro's] line-up in the prematch press conference but we only had nine out of the 11 because one of the players was injured and one started on the bench. 

“They are a good team but I have to give compliments to our team for an excellent shift and tactically we were very good. The first half was not that good from us, we struggled. But it was a fantastic second half and incredible compliments to the group for adaptation and an incredible performance throughout.”