Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rhulani Mokwena strongly disagreed with the Tunisian media’s notion that Esperance won the tactical battle during their CAF Champions League semifinal clash on Saturday.
Despite dominating proceedings for larger periods of the encounter, Sundowns fell to a 1-0 loss in front of a fully-packed Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi.
Speaking in a post-match press conference, Rhulani denied his side were tactically outplayed by the four-time champions.
“I don’t agree that Esperance tactically won. No, I fully disagree. I think in football there are two important things during the 90 minutes.
“The first thing is, how many chances are you able to create and who created the most chances today?
“Please, that’s a question you must answer, who created the most chances between Sundowns and Esperance? Did we concede more chances to them or did Esperance concede more chances? How do you defend well if you give away more chances than the opposition?
“Maybe I’ve got a different perspective of how I analyze football. When you defend well, you must not give away chances. I don’t agree with that statement, and I have to defend my team, sorry,” Rulani argued.
Rulani did praise Taraji’s efficiency as they scored from their only opportunity in the first half through Yan Sasse.
“Efficiency is not performance and tactics, so you can talk about efficiency and maybe you’re right because if you create one chance and you score, you’re efficient.
“So that is a completely different discussion that we can have. I’d like to ask you guys, as the Tunisian media, how many times do you see Esperance park the bus at home?
“Are you guys happy to see one of the biggest teams in this country playing against Mamelodi Sundowns parking the bus? If you guys are happy with that, then there’s no problem with me. You can praise Esperance without degrading the performance of Sundowns because it’s possible to do that,” Rulani further asserted his opinion.
Sundowns were without key midfielder Tebogo Mokoena, who is nursing a hamstring strain.
“Teboho Mokoena was almost ready, but we didn’t want to take the risk because of the schedule that we have going forward, but we will see how it goes,” Rulani added.
With the return leg due to be played at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Friday, Rulani has stressed that the game is not over.
“I think with a lot of humility, it’s halftime because the game is over two legs. Let’s start off by congratulating Esperance, and let me also congratulate Sundowns because I’m extremely proud of the effort of my players,” he concluded.
