Ronwen: Sundowns want to go all the way

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Author: Matshelane Mamabolo
• Publication title: Mercury

The Sundowns coach is aware that “the automatic response of the human being is safety”, and has seen in recent matches how his team have tended to be “conservative with their mentality”

“No matter how much you love dogs, and I love dogs, but I see a Rottweiler, my first instinct is to run. It is not to caress the dog.

“Even with footballers, the first instance when they get into a situation where they are playing games of consequence and get closer to winning, the mentality and the reaction of the body and the mind is to say let’s not lose it. And that’s a problem.”

He believes, though, that it is his task to remind his players that they have reached the level they are at through being bold and wants them to keep at it.

“I encourage them and say go for it! You’ve gotten thus far because you went for it, and it is the only way to go across that line. So I tell them, ‘Guys, put the handbrake down and play with little fear’.

“If you lose, that’s okay, because football is all about winning, losing or drawing.

“If we are afraid to lose, what are you saying to the people who are bereaved, that it’s the end of the world?”

Do not, however, misconstrue that to mean Mokwena would be okay with losing tonight.

Far from it, because he wants and needs a victory like the desert needs the rain – the young coach is intent on not only taking...