Rulani Mokwena 'humble' in relishing Mamelodi Sundowns milestone

The MTN8 could be the first domestic trophy outside the DStv Premiership for Mokwena since taking over as sole head tactician at the club last year.

You could hardly tell during his post-match press conference after the victory over Amakhosi in the cup on Saturday evening, but in his remarks the young coach reflected on the milestone.

"I'm just overwhelmed by emotions. I'm very proud of the group of players, they work very hard and I'm just proud that they get to play a final because with a lot of the things that we achieved last season, the one thing we did not give ourselves a chance was to play a cup final. It was one of the objectives this season and I'm very proud that the players have done that," Mokwena said.

Two goals by striker Peter Shalulile guaranteed Sundowns will be one of the two sides in the cup final on 8 October, although the match wasn’t short of controversy as referee Luxolo Badi shrugged off a late penalty shout from Chiefs.

Earlier in the week, the Brazilians had also narrowly defeated the Buccaneers at Orlando Stadium in the DStv Premiership.

"That's what they say, isn't it? 'Humble in victory', so just trying my very best not to just speak about it but to try to demonstrate that because it's very important in life in general not to be too excited in the good moments and not to be too low in the bad moments," Mokwena added.

Mokwena credited the work he and his technical team put in to remain the only side yet to be beaten across all tournaments so far this season – no matter the approach from the opposition.

"A lot have tried and we've still beaten them. Chiefs tried and we beat them. So, we have to answer the questions, it's football. Some will sit low, some will press high, some will have a mid to low block, some will do it in phases. We did it to Pirates on Wednesday, we were very, very aggressive. We did it to Chiefs, our first goal comes from homework."