Outspoken TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi has come to the defense of his head coach, Sead Ramovic, who continued his war of words with Mamelodi Sundowns tactician Rulani Mokwena in the aftermath of the heated 1-1 draw between the two sides on Tuesday evening.
Sukazi is convinced that the continued public spats between Ramovic and Rulani point to a brewing rivalry between these teams.
Ramovic and Rulani have been at odds since the Carling Knockout Cup encounter, which was eventually won by the Rockets via a penalty shootout last year.
Tempers flared at the Mbombela Stadium after full-time, with both sets of technical teams at each other’s throats. The heavy police presence had to intervene during the fracas, with neither coach willing to back down.
In his response to the ugly scenes at Mbombela, Sukazi maintained that South African football should brace itself for a new rivalry in the PSL.
“There is no bad blood between us and Sundowns and there never will be, I promise you.
“I have contributed a lot to Project Sundowns personally and I have achieved many things with Sundowns that many won’t know about. Even if I wanted bad blood, it wouldn’t happen.
“The only thing we have witnessed is football rivalry, and we must be happy as a country that we now have another rivalry that has been confirmed outside the Soweto derby.
“We have another rivalry, and we are blessed because it doesn’t happen often in South African football to have more than one rivalry,” Sukazi told the media.
Sukazi added that Ramovic’s comments about Sundowns needing to buy Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were taken out of context. He admits that Sundowns can never afford to sign these superstars.
“The devil remains in the detail. People need to understand why certain names were used and someone said he mentioned something like sunshine. Understand what he means and where it comes from, and then you can take your own position as to whether you agree or disagree with him, and that is normal.
“There is the thing he said about spending money and buying Kylian Mbappé and other players, and that one is purely banter and nothing more. How will they be able to buy Mbappé, Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, for example?
“That makes the next game more interesting, and that game is going to happen next season in the league. Probably, Sundowns will have brought in more signings.
“That means they will be stronger than they are now. The issue is, how is TS Galaxy going to stand up to the strength of the mighty Sundowns? That is what it is about,” Sukazi concluded.