Rhulani Mokwena could well have been sending a coded message to the match officials for Saturday’s MTN8 final between his Mamelodi Sundowns side and Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
He did not say it out loud but the coach was essentially pleading – if not instructing – the referee and his assistants to “protect my team against rough play”.
Mokwena said on Wednesday he was hopeful that the tie against the defending champions would be “a good game of football” – unlike the previous clashes between the two sides.
“We are playing against a difficult opponent with some very good players on the pitch. It is an opponent playing its third final as a group,” he said.
Jose Riviero’s team won the selfsame MTN8 last year, as well as the Nedbank Cup to end last season with two trophies.
After handing out the platitudes to the Buccaneers, Mokwena went into gamesmanship mode, perhaps in a ploy to get into the match officials’ heads and under the opposition’s skin.
“We know the magnitude of the final and we will go for it. Hopefully it is a very good game without harassment of referees and without the physicality of over-the-top tackles.”
Mokwena moved to justify his statements.
“You know in almost every game against Pirates, we lose a player with a very severe injury. You know, Haashim Domingo in the Carling Black Label (match). (Abubeker)
Nasir is still not here (not available for selection) because of the situation with (Siyabonga) Mpontshane.
“In the last game, (Nkosinathi) Sibisi took Marcelo (Allende) out on the halfway line with a studs-up, two-footed tackle and Marcelo has not really recovered from that.”
Domingo, who has since left Sundowns to ply his trade for Raja Casbalanca in Morocco, suffered a horrific tackle from Pirates defender Thapelo Xoki in the final of the Carling Black Label Cup at the FNB Stadium back in November.
The Nasir incident was when Mpontshane clattered into the Ethiopian during the teams’ New Year’s Eve clash and Sundowns felt the Bucs goalkeeper should have been shown a red card but he was not even shown a yellow.
Pirates would no doubt argue that the officials were pro-Sundowns in not giving Ronwen Williams a red card when he clattered into Zakhele Lepasa, who was free on goal, in the league clash between the two sides.
The Sundowns goalkeeper was only shown a yellow card and Pirates’ assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi, incredibly, got a red card for protesting that decision.
In the same match, that the DStv Premiership champions won 1-0 via a penalty, the general feeling was that the referee had erred because Themba Zwane should have been adjudged offside.
“I am hoping for a game that does not have too much of those, so that the people talk (more) about the football and less of the handbags, the things on the periphery. Hopefully, that’s the type of game (good football) we get to witness,” Mokwena added.
On the issue of injuries, Sundowns are sweating on the fitness of their goal-machine Lucas Ribeiro Costa, who has been banging them in since he joined from Belgium at the beginning of the campaign.
The Brazilian left the pitch early in the preliminary round second leg of their CAF Champions League tie against Bumamura FC at the Lucas Moripe Stadium at the weekend.
Mokwena, however, said they will not rule the striker out completely until they really have to.
“We will wait on the fitness of Lucas up to 90 minutes before the match when we have to give the starting line-up.
“We will wait for that until the last minute, for anybody.
“We have done it before when we have waited on the fitness of the players. It is an important game and we need everybody.
“Lucas is one of those that are important for us and the medical team will do the best they can in that department.”
@Tshiliboy