I think not enough credit is given to this group – Mokwena on his team.

To find the last time Mamelodi Sundowns lost a league match, you will have to go back to the 2nd of September 2022, when they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against SuperSport United, that was ages ago.

Since then, the Brazilians went on an amazing 16-match ubeaten run in the league, which included a 15-match winning streak, where they managed to keep a whopping 12 clean sheets.

Now, we may say the Dstv Premiership is a weak league blah blah blah...

Okay, fair enough, but the very same Sundowns team have done tremendously well in the Caf Champions League as well, winning four of their six group stage matches, with two draws, and they qualified for the quarterfinals on top of their group.

To achieve the type of results and dish out the kind of performances Downs have given us this season can take a lot out of players, their mental strength has been tested to the limits, physically they have had to push themselves to the edge, tactically they have had to apply themselves with military precision, especially in the CAFCL, yet they are still standing, and going strong.

In light of the above, and the fact that they have won the league with seven matches to spare, Downs’ head coach, Rulani Mokwena, is justified in saying that his players deserve more credit than they are given, we might not be at a point where naming a town after them is part of the conversations, but credit, that they deserve in abundance.

Mokwena on winning the league, and why his players deserve more credit:

“It was a bit difficult because we live in such a digital and social media space and whether you like it or not the players will know,” Mokwena said as quoted by Times Live.

“So my speech to them before the game was, ‘Congratulations, because you guys know about it, but now you’ve got [a game]’. 

“And really it’s something they need to be congratulated for. And sometimes in South Africa it’s downplayed, and maybe we are victims of our own success where people undermine the difficulties of winning the Premier League. 

“The league title is the hardest to win in any country. You’ve got to play against 15 opponents home and away and the competition lasts eight or nine months. There’s no other competition any team competes in that lasts as long. 

“Sometimes maybe because of the way it may be perceived, and people start to think it looks easy, that’s actually the most difficult. 

“And tonight’s was maybe a game like that where we had to not be in a celebratory mood because we’d won the championship, which was a very difficult championship. 

“And maybe people might not think that but it’s so difficult to have the level of consistency that this group has shown over the number of games we’ve played — having to win and win and win and win without getting tired is not easy. 

“There’s a level of complacency that creeps in. To not allow that and stay at a good competitive mental level is very difficult. I think not enough credit is given to this group for that.”