Mamelodi Sundowns are back in training and working around the clock to get their injured players back to speed in time for their big match against Orlando Pirates on New Year’s Eve.
They returned to the training ground on Monday after a three-week break because of the unfolding Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena was also grateful to the club bosses for giving the technical team members an opportunity to go to the Fifa World Cup in Qatar on a learning excursion. The Sundowns coaches Mokwena, Steve Komphela, Manqoba Mngqithi, Wendel Robinson (goalkeeper coach), together with technical director Flemming Berg spent some time at the Fifa technical centre with various coaches, players and coaching directors.
They also attended a number of matches and training sessions doing some analyses.
Mokwena has also given an update on the players after they reported back to camp after a long break. Some of the players like Rivaldo Coetzee did not go on holiday and they stayed behind to work on their fitness.
“Our medical department, together with our physios and biokineticists sacrificed their time by not going on holiday. The physical trainers also stayed behind and were trying to work on that. That is the spirit of Mamelodi Sundowns, the selflessness and this ability to put the club first and sacrifice a lot of time in assisting,” said Mokwena.
“We want to compliment not just to the players for sacrificing their time with their families and putting themselves at service for the club, but also incredible compliments and a sense of appreciation for the medical department and the conditioning department for sacrificing their time and working when everybody else was on a bit of a recess.”
“Players like Bongani Zungu, players like Marcelo Allende, Gift Motupa are players that remained behind and Sipho Mbule. They stayed behind and worked a little bit harder on their physical condition. We’ve got some very good players and some very honest football players, and players showed extreme professionalism – we really appreciate it in the sense that there was no whining and complaining but only professional spirit,” he added.
“So, hopefully by the time we resume the league towards the end of this month, we will have a more extensive list of players that are available so that we can choose from them. And then there were players that you know come from injury like Terrence Mashego, for example, Peter Shalulile, Nasir, Haashim Domingo – it was something that was unfortunate that happened to him in the Carling Black Label. But also with Erwin Saavedra, these were players that managed to get a bit of catch up, and we have accelerated their recovery programme.”
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