Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has revealed his talks with the club's four captains, namely Andile Jali, Mosa Lebusa, Themba Zwane and Denis Onyango, after being appointed head coach in October.
The Mamelodi Sundowns Football
Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria, in the province of Gauteng, that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first division of the South African football league system. Founded in the 1970s, the team plays its home games at the Loftus Versfeld stadium. The Sundowns Football Club originated around Marabastad, a cosmopolitan area in the northwest of the financial district of Pretoria, in the early 1960s, where it was formed by a group of young people who lived in the area.The club mentions people like Frank ABC Motsepe, Roy Fischer, Ingle Singh and Bernard Hartze as part of its young founding stars. The newly created team was named Marabastad Sundowns in honor of a fan club called Sundowns, which existed in the 1940s, which was also formed in Marabastad. That same year, 1985, South African football was the first sport in the country to stop being racial and the National Football League was formed, which incorporated the best clubs in the country, including the Sundowns. Dave Barber was in charge at the start of the new era of the National Soccer League, but his tenure quickly came to an end when the club found itself at the bottom of the table and Zola Mahobe named Walter da Silver.
Later, Da Silver retired after 5 games before the end of the season, alleging that Mahobe was interfering with the team's selection. Zola Mahobe named Ben Segale as coach, and the team ended the 1985 season successfully by winning the last 4 games to finish in eleventh place, which was a big improvement over their previous two seasons in the top flight. With Mahobe, Sundown's luck changed for the better when it began fighting for the top honors in the national league. The Sundowns coach, who was spending a lot of money, recruited the services of elite South African players in search of supremacy, and changed his equipment to look like that of the Brazilian national team, which earned them their nickname, the Brazilians.
The Sundowns triumphed in 1988, with a victory against Arcadia, a rival from the other side of the city, in the final of the BP Top Eight Cup, and later defeated them again in the Ohlsson's Challenge Cup. Despite winning two trophies that year, problems were brewing in the camp when the players, led by Anderson, demanded the resignation of coach Tshabalala and his assistant Trot Moloto. Stan resigned his position, with a record of 54 wins, 29 draws and 25 losses. The captain, Mike Ntombela, took charge of the club for four games while management was looking for a coach.
That same year, ownership of the club passed into the hands of Standard Bank, which regained the club from Zola Mahobe. The club was liquidated and the soccer family Angelo and Natasha Tsichlas spoke to the bank and saved the club. Then they formed a company with Abe Krok and bought 100% of the club. This success was followed by a season of heartbreaking losses in 1991, in which the team finished second in the league and failed to reach any cup finals.
Jeff Butler was appointed coach in 1993 after being involved in a dispute with Bafana Bafana. He led the club to win its third league title in a hard-fought 3-point race against Moroka Swallows and to finish fourth in the league the following year. The Sundowns qualified for the continental title for the first time in the 1994 African Cup of Champions Clubs, but lost to AS Vita Club in the second round. In 2001, the Sundowns focused their efforts on continental glory and became the second South African team to reach the prestigious CAF Champions League final by defeating Petro Atlético in the semifinals.
The club played in the final of the 2001 CAF Champions League, where it was defeated 4-1 on aggregate by the Egyptian club Al Ahly. In the final, they beat Egypt's Zamalek SC 3-1 on aggregate, winning their first continental title and becoming the second South African team to be crowned African champion. The club classification is used as the top seed in CAF competitions. For decades, the club has been topping the list of the best teams in the PSL, with stars from all over the world.
It currently has a squad of 36 players, 16 of whom are national team players and 9 are foreign players. Andile Jali is the captain of Mamelodi Sundowns and the following are the current players of the best team. In 1969, Ingle Jinx Sigh, one of the founding players of the Sundowns and later owner of Marabastad Sundowns and Pretoria City (which later became Supersport United), decided to sell the club to Dr. By the end of 1986, the club had won the Mainstay Cup in a 1-0 fight against Jomo Cosmos at Ellis Park, and goalkeeper Mark Anderson was named Footballer of the Year due to the arrival of new players.
Mamelodi Sundowns is a professional football club located in Mamelodi, Pretoria, in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Under the tutelage of Screamer Tshabalala, the Sundowns played an entertaining and effective style of soccer that became known as The Shoe Shine and Piano. The Sundowns is owned by South African business magnate Patrice Motsepe and is one of the most valuable clubs in Africa by market value. With the club's dominance in South African and international football, some of the Mamelodi Sundowns players became club legends.
They also hold the combined record for three National Football League championships, making it South Africa's most successful football club in the modern era. Mamelodi Sundowns players are famous for the distinctive method of playing the Shoe Shine & piano, which consists of composing short but fast passes to resemble the Spanish tiki-taka. Five years later, their women's team won the CAF Women's Champions Championship, making Sundowns the first African club to win the CAF Champions League and the CAF Women's Champions League titles. .
