Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has broken his silence regarding Al Ahly’s Percy Tau who will be facing the Brazilians in the Caf Champions League group match on Saturday.
Tau is a former Sundowns star who left the team in 2018 when Pitso Mosimane was still the head coach. So all eyes will be on how the former Bafana Bafana captain performs against the team that turned him into a superstar.
Sundowns have also rallied their Yellow Army supporters to arrive in large numbers in order to suffocate the travelling Egyptians. The Brazilians have went as far as offering free tickets on match day to their fans who will be dressed in yellow.
Sundowns have had an impressive start to their Group B campaign and are sitting on seven points after three matches. They won two and drew the other match and a victory against Al Ahly will put the South Africans on 10 points and topping the group at the same time. Sudanese side Al Hilal have also had a great start and have won three of their four matches with only a single loss.
They are currently heading the group but have played an extra game. Ahly’s loss could result in them bowing out of the competition completely.
“Percy is playing a completely different role, in fact the last three games it was also completely different compared to how he played against in Cairo. Against us in Cairo he played three different positions in 90 minutes,” Mokwena told the media on Thursday.
“He is a very good player, one of our best exports and I don’t speak too much about him because he is not a Mamelodi Sundowns player. I have a lot of respect on what I say but also how I speak about players that are not my players. Secondly, maybe because I am a little bit biased, so I try not to say too much and I will leave at that,” he added.
“With regards to Al Ahly having never won in SA, it is difficult to comment because when I look at their team I see a team that has more than 393 Caf Champions League appearances among their starting line-up against us in Cairo. That is close to 400 appearances in the Champions League and that’s the level of experience that they have. Compared that to my team that has about 170 odd Champions League appearances.
“Despite the strength and quality that they possess, like every other team they have weaknesses and we have try and win a football match. Regardless of whether we play at three or six or whether we play at home or away, it is the same enthusiasm and character.
“We did it in Cairo and we have to do it again here, the players have to get used to playing games of consequence. The only way they can get used to doing that is to play these games to get that level of experience. We all have to give them a fair chance to make a name for themselves and make history for the football club,” he explained further.
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