How Ralani, Mokoena fit in at Downs

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena is excited abut the arrival of Teboho Mokoena and Bradley Ralani as he feels they will add more depth to their squad.

The duo joined the star-studded Sundowns team during the January transfer window from SuperSport United and Cape Town City.

The coach said that Downs had been huge admirers of Mokoena's “for a couple of windows now”. 

“We were very happy to be able to welcome him into the team. Many people would think he was recruited mainly for defensive reasons but offensively, as a central midfielder, he has a greater contribution to make to the team through the qualities that he possesses.”

The coach feels that Mokoena is able to unlock defensive blocks with his long-range shots at goal and passing ability.

“When you play against a reinforcing defence that sits a little bit deeper, the most important tools to try and unlock a defensive block are shots taken from midfield or from outside the box,” he said. “In this regard, Tebza is probably the best in the country at the moment.

“After having lost Hlompho Kekana and the qualities, what was important was to try and find the midfielder to unlock those defensive blocks with long passes.”

Mokwena said attacking midfielder Ralani would bring scoring opportunities to the side, having done so at Cape Town City.

“Ralani’s recruitment brings a lot of question marks and in particular because of his age. But in football, the most important thing in recruitment is to bring in the right player... Ralani is what we call an outlier. His numbers suggest that there is a big difference between him and the rest of the players in the PSL.”