Mokwena’s views on Sundowns’ gruelling fixture schedule

Ahead of their congested fixture schedule, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena shares his views on how he plans to manage the tight schedule.

Sundowns will kick off their Carling Knockout Cup campaign on Wednesday before turning focus to the CAF African Super League this weekend – Mokwena is ready for the gruelling schedule.

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Apart from the two tournaments, Mokwena and Sundowns are also set to participate in the Nedbank Cup and Champions League including the DStv Premiership.

MOKWENA ON SUNDOWNS GRUELLING SCHEDULE

Sundowns are now preparing to face TS Galaxy on Wednesday night and Mokwena will be without key players such as Ronwen Williams who are in the Bafana Bafana camp.

For Bafana, Sundowns skipper Themba Zwane scored in the 1-all draw against Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday.

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Furthermore, Sundowns will also miss key figures such as Khuliso Mudau, Teboho Mokoena and Mothobi Mvala among others.

“The first thing is to make sure that the recovery is very good between the games and that’s the most important thing,” said Mokwena per FARPost.

“We have set up a little bit of a task team within our technical team to make sure we work on that.

“But also, we just have to go game by game you know. 

“It sounds cliché but the reality of that is to focus on one game at a time and try to win every single game you are about to play and that each and every player is ready for that.”

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SUNDOWNS COACH NOT GETTING AHEAD OF HIMSELF

The coach, Mokwena is yet to suffer a defeat in the league as he guided Sundowns to eight wins so far.

Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Sundowns coach will look to return to winning ways following their penalty shoot-out loss to Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final.

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“But I can’t get too far ahead of myself. That’s the beauty of being head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns,” adds Mokwena.

You got to focus on the next fixture because there’s so much that goes into it.

“One fixture has got so much work to do in terms of planning for the training sessions.

“Also, one-on-one meetings with the players for every fixture, and watching the opposition’s games about four to five games. 

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“And if I have time, I watch many six or seven games with the rest of the technical team and the analyst which is an incredible amount of work.

“That’s why it’s so important that we take it game by game and not get too far ahead of ourselves.” 

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