Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has credited his co-mentor, Rhulani Mokwena for the manner in which his side took the lead in the match against Chiefs on Saturday.
The defending champions kicked off their league title-defence in fine style, beating the Soweto giants 3-0 at FNB Stadium.
How Rhulani Mokwena masterminded Sundowns’ opening goal
First on the scoresheet was debutant Peter Shalulile who, in his first league start in Sundowns colours, headed in from a set-piece to continue where he left off last season, where he claimed the Golden Boot with 16 goals.
According to Mngqithi, the Tshwane outfit’s superiority on the set-piece was the product of Mokwena’s innovation at training.
“We worked very hard on the set-pieces considering that in our previous match we conceded from a set-piece, a very, very, very bad set-piece at the far post which we could’ve dealt with better,” the Sundowns coach told SuperSport after the game.
“We worked very hard on our organisation on set-pieces and also on our attack on set-pieces.
“On the corner-kick that was scored by Peter Shalulile, we give credit to coach Rhulani because he was working on that corner-kick a lot yesterday and it paid off because Peter was left free and the rest of the guys could’ve easily scored in that moment. So it’s encouraging to see things you prepare in training coming out in the match.”
Manqoba Mngqithi
Perfect start for Mamelodi Sundowns
The two other goals were scored by another Sundowns debutant in Kermit Erasmus, as well as Themba Zwane, who converted from the penalty spot to make it 3-0.
The convincing victory propelled Sundowns to pole position in their pursuit for an unprecedented fourth straight league title, and their 11th overall in the PSL era.
They next come up against top-flight newcomers Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday night.
