Mokwena also echoed Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp’s sentiments about mental fatigue after his side lost to Atalanta in the Europa League.
Thembinkosi Lorch of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates his goal with head coach Rhulani Mokwena during the 2024 Nedbank Cup semifinal against Stellenbosch FC at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Sunday. could have done more to help them make their Caf Champion League commitments easier, the Mamelodi Sundowns coach highlighted the taxing nature of traveling on the continent as opposed to Europe.
On the other hand, the Tunisian team didn’t have matches scheduled in between the two-legged tussle against the DStv Premiership champions. Esperance dumped Sundowns out of the competition to reach the final where they will play Al-Ahly. “I don’t want to answer that because if I do, I might get myself into big trouble,” Mokwena said when asked if they felt let down by the League.“What I will say is this, I want you to go back to Jurgen Klopp’s interview a few days ago. He speaks about the failure of English teams not making it into the semifinals of both UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
“Let’s say in England and Arsenal is going to play Porto in Lisbon, how long is that flight? But to go from South Africa to go play Esperance in Tunisia, how long is that flight? And then you leave two or three days before that means you have two or three training sessions on the other side. That means you take more than 11 players or 20 because of possibilities of injuries when we travel.
“We take almost the entire squad so it’s not about rotation, it’s about the accumulation of fatigue and playing games instead of having time to prepare. Jurgen Klopp puts it so nicely, and this is coming from an old man who is about to leave the game. I want to say this is coming from a young man who is wet behind the ears and knows half of what Klopp knows so it’s better to listen to what he says.
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