Sparks are expected to fly when TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic and his Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart, Rulani Mokwena, meet in Wednesday’s much-anticipated PSL encounter at the Mbombela Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.
All eyes will be on the two coaches, who have been exchanging heated words in recent weeks. Hopefully, the action on the pitch will be as exciting as the expected verbal duel between the two warring trainers. Both teams are playing a beautiful brand of football, and this will be one of the ingredients that will add spice to the encounter.
Significance of No 7 in clash
Sundowns are strolling home for the seventh league title on the trot, while Galaxy are lying seventh after seven wins from 17 rounds of matches, with seven losses. The prevalence of the number 7 serves to add more ammunition to the looming clash. In both Greek and Roman mythology, seven is spiritually linked to Athena and Minerva, both goddesses of war and city protection.
Ramovic, who has turned Galaxy into a formidable side, said that he felt disrespected by his Sundowns opposite after Galaxy dumped the star-studded Sundowns out of the Carling Cup last year. Mokwena commented that he missed seven of his star players who were on national duty representing Bafana Bafana after that match.
The German-Serbian coach did not take kindly to Mokwena’s remarks, saying that Sundowns have a big budget and a squad big enough to win every match that they play. Ramovic felt that Mokwena did not give his players credit for the defeat, but he instead looked for excuses.
A seething Ramovic finally blew his top in a recent Nedbank Cup press conference, where he blasted Mokwena.
“If a coach loses against us with players that we bought from the NFD (National First Division) and amateur leagues, they must not become disrespectful. We do not have financial muscle, but we find a way to compete and improve,” said Ramovic.
“My players work hard every day, and he (Rulani) came up with a cheap excuse that he did not have seven players. Those players that played against us were top-notch, and they can win the league. It means that if he does not have plan B, it says a lot about his quality,” he added.
I don’t care who are Rulani’s parents
“And if we win a game against them (Sundowns) and if someone like Rulani undermines or disrespects the hard work of my players, I will raise my voice and protect my players.
“They spent over R150-million in the last two seasons on players. It means they have a squad of unbelievable quality. I also got a call from him. He started to yell and scream, and he spoke for about 10 minutes. ‘Who the f!#k are you to come to my f!#%ng country and talk to me like this? Do you know who my parents are? Be careful how you talk to me because you are in my country’.
“I told him that I do not care who his parents are, and he hung up the phone. This was his high standard of morale. I was very disappointed to be treated like this by a colleague; it was very small-minded talk,” Ramovic explained further.
In response, Mokwena described Ramovic as an attention-seeker and asked the media to give his counterpart some publicity.
“If I have to say something to Sead, again, I will pick up the phone and say it. I don’t think that it is for the public because we go into a space that we’re not supposed to go to. I don’t mind if he comes for me,” Mokwena said.
“There are a lot of coaches who have come for me. When you start to say the club has spent so much money, you are also disrespecting the Motsepe family. They (Motsepes) give so much of their hard-earned money into football and many other things.”
