Mamelodi Sundowns Head Coach Rulani Mokwena was part of the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup Panel of Analysts for one of the broadcasters of the spectacle and had an opportunity to witness a few of the World Cup games live. Coach Rulani Mokwena caught up with the Sundowns Media team to reflect on his 2022 FIFA World Cup Experience.
“Firstly, I would like to thank the Club, the Chairman, and the Board because it is through them that these things happen. I want to thank them for granting me the opportunity to be in that space, to share what I know about football, and to learn from football pendants that do this a lot more regularly than I do and have a lot more experience in terms of being professional football players”, said Coach Mokwena as he touched on working as Analyst with other football enthusiasts.
The Brazilians Coach travelled to Qatar in November to witness the world’s biggest showpiece; he shared his overall World Cup Experience. “Croatia and Morocco didn’t seem to have much possession but ended up going far in the tournament. When I was predicting the outcome of the tournament, I did think that one of the winners would be someone that plays for PSG. There are principles that I’ve taken from the high standard of football I witnessed. High work ethic, team cohesion, and team sacrifice are the things that predominantly stood out for me.”
Coach Mokwena mentioned that being in a space with local personalities such as Thomas Mlambo, Julia Stuart and Teko Modise was eye-opening. He shared that it was great sharing the stage with influential and international sportsmen like Jakob Stam ‘Jaap Stam’ with his experience as a coach and being a former footballer that has played at the highest levels of football. Owen Hargreaves, Asamoah Gyan who he has already shared two stages with before for international tournaments, Jay-Jay Okocha, and lastly Michael Owens who spoke about his experiences as a striker for Manchester United and Real Madrid.
This is how he described the experience and outcome of working with the various football all-stars. “These are people who have become colleagues. From time to time, we share opinions and views. We’ve been keeping regular contact which is good when making friends with people at incredibly good levels, have vast experience, and are able to learn and interchange knowledge.”
Argentina put up a good fight against France in the final game and won the 2022 FIFA World Cup Title. Coach Mokwena revealed that he was pleasantly surprised as they showed enough tactical flexibility, had players that have superior individual qualities, and displayed consistency like Lionel Messi, Alexis Mac Allister, and Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to assist the team.
