Galaxy coach slams Mokwena for excuses after Carling Knockout win

Vocal TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic has launched a stinging attack on his Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart Rulani Mokwena, insinuating he was a disrespectful crybaby for bemoaning that Galaxy beat them when they were without several key stars.

Galaxy eliminated Sundowns from the Carling Knockout by beating them 5-4 on penalties in the first round. The game, played almost six weeks ago, had ended 2-all nearly six weeks ago. Galaxy face AmaZulu in the Carling KO semifinals at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

“If you look at our game against Royal AM, I think we had 15 opportunities and we didn’t score but this problem isn’t only our problem... many other teams have this kind of problem in front of goals, they also miss a lot. But all in all, we don’t want to find any excuse like other coaches do,” Ramovic said at their training base, Sturrock Park, on Thursday.

“For example, when we won against Sundowns, what were the excuses from the opponent, from the coach?

“He said he didn’t have seven of his players, right? So, how is that respect for the players that played? National players, a player you bought for R60m, Allende and you bought a guy from Stellenbosch [Mendieta] how much did they pay? R12m and then you have Zungu, and a lot of other national players and you come up with an excuse to disrespect my staff, my players, myself.”

After losing to Galaxy, a livid Mokwena bemoaned: “who cares that you play the day after and you tell me of any club in the world, any club, I’m waiting, any club in the world that plays a day after the Fifa break?

“Who cares that you have the Footballer of the Season not here [Themba Zwane]? Who cares that you have the Goalkeeper of the Season [Ronwen Williams] not here? Who cares that you don’t have the Defender of the Year [Khuliso Muda]? Who cares?”

The aforementioned Downs stars missed the Galaxy clash because they were on national duty with Bafana Bafana in Ivory Coast. Ramovic emphasised Mokwena should have lauded Galaxy after the game, promising to beat them again.

“I think this is a good and very strong coach who shouldn’t find an excuse... he should’ve said ‘fantastic job from Galaxy, they had a fantastic game plan, they beat us and we show respect what they did’,” the Rockets coach stated.

“I think he also disrespected his own team, his own players because if he says he can’t win with those players, that’s disrespecting them. I think the team that played against us can win the league, top players.

“We’re very happy to win against Sundowns because the first time we won against him [Mokwena] it was that we played ‘Catenaccio’ where I don’t understand Catenaccio. I can promise that we will win against them again when we play them.”