Mamelodi Sundowns set a new record of 12 consecutive wins in the PSL after their narrow win over Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday, 20 August. The record was previously held by the club under former coach Gordon Igesund in the 2006/07 season, when they won 11 consecutive league victories. After the match, Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena was asked whether this current crop of players is the best ever assembled at the club.
A record 1️⃣2️⃣ successive victories in the DStvPrem for Mamelodi Sundowns
A new benchmark in South African football pic.twitter.com/5Qo38HQgFi
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 21, 2023
In a post-match press conference, Mokwena said: “I don’t know if that was posed as a question to whoever held the record, it’s a pity that, huge kudos to the football club. Huge round of applause to everyone involved at the club for what we see, it can never have been an individual contribution or make-up. So congratulations to the collective, congratulations to the entire group of players, the Motsepe family and the board and everyone involved in putting together this Sundowns that we see today.”
Despite the victory, Mokwena admitted that tactically, he did not like Sundowns’ performance against Chiefs and felt vindicated that he has always been saying that they have to improve. He said: “Yes we can do more, we can improve, there’s a lot of things we can improve and we will focus on getting better and better. We say it after winning, I think today’s (Saturday) performance was slightly better than the last two, although still a little bit too open but okay, I speak from a coaching perspective when I say we have to improve.”
Mokwena concluded by emphasizing that there is no ceiling to how much the team can improve, even if they win or lose. He concluded: “And when I say that people say, ‘he’s trying to be modest’ and all of that but we have to improve, we have to get better and even if we win 15 in a row, 16 in a row, 20 in a row and even if we lose, we still have to get better. There’s no ceiling and we have to think about that and know that.”
Do you think this is the best Sundowns team in the PSL era? Let us know in the comments section below.