Winning award the cherry on top for Mokoena

Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Teboho Mokoena has credited the hard work he put in this season after he walked away with the footballer of the year award during the Premier Soccer League (PSL) virtual ceremony on Sunday.

Mokoena beat his teammates Ronwen Williams and Orlando Pirates’ Monnapule Saleng to the coveted award, which came with a R250,000 cheque.

The award, decided by PSL coaches, is judged on performance in the league and two cup competitions, the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup.

“I would like to thank everyone at the club, the supporters, the players, the technical team, the Motsepe family, my family, everyone involved and the coaches that voted for me. I’m very happy to win the award,” Mokwena told Sowetan via the club media channels yesterday.

“I’m very excited. I don’t know what to say, just words of gratitude. Ronwen Williams had a brilliant season with 18 clean sheets and conceded 10. I think he also deserved the award.

“Saleng also had an excellent season. I voted for him for the player’s player of the season because he had a wonderful campaign.”

Mokoena also shared the secret that made the campaign successful and what coach Rulani Mokwena told him at the beginning of the season.

“I can say a lot about coach Rulani. What I learned this season is that he told me I must have a quiet game in the sense that people must not talk about me after the match,” he said.

“If people talk about me after the game, then I did the wrong things because what I must do is to do the dirty job for the team to protect the defence so we can concede fewer goals.

“I was playing as a deep playmaker, so I did a lot of work with coach Rulani and every player he has worked with has improved and I’m one of them and looking forward to the next season.

“Every season I have targets that are not individual awards. I just aim to win trophies for the team, then winning awards is just the cherry on top. I always want to see my teammates shining and I’m always behind them.”