Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has revealed his coaching dream of working with Cape Town Spurs coach Ernst Middendorp, but as his assistant.
Speaking to the media after an uninspiring 1-1 draw against neighbours SuperSport United on Tuesday, Rulani moved away from analyzing the game and revealed his fondness for the German tactician.
Rulani’s response could be in relation to Middendorp’s statement where he accused PSL coaches for lacking respect and sportsmanship.
Middendorp made those comments after his touchline confrontation with Orlando Pirates’ Jose Riveiro during the match at Orlando Stadium which ended 1-1.
“One of the dreams is to be Ernst Middendorp’s assistant, I phone him a lot just to talk to him and he knows that.
“I like him, I like how he thinks, since he’s come back from his stint in Tanzania, his way of seeing things is amazing.
“He said something the other day that he doesn’t think we have colleagues in South Africa and I hope he considers me as a colleague. I admire him a lot. I must tell you it is still one of my dreams to be his assistant,” Rulani said.
With Sundowns drawing Young Africans in the quarter-finals of the CAF Champions League, Mokwena has promised to analyse the Tanzanian side during the FIFA break.
“I watched the draw and all the games of the opponents in the Champions League but I have watched as a coach and not as an analyst.
Now I have to switch and fortunately I have a nice FIFA break coming where my focus will be on Young Africans.
“I will go as far back as I possibly can. I will try to see their profile. They have a good coach in Miguel Gamondi who was at Sundowns and they are an organized team with good structure.
“Now I have to focus on our next game against Maritzburg United, which is a tough one because everyone expects you to win. Those types of games are the toughest, you just have to see the recent results where a team was expected to win in the cup and in the league they dropped points or dumped out of the cup,” noted Rulani.
