Mokwena hails the quality of Ricardo Formosinho

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rhulani Mokwena was full of praise for newly-appointed Al Hilal coach Ricardo Formosinho following their performance against the Tshwane giants.

The Brazilians continued their impressive run in the Caf Champions League group stages after earning a point away to Al Hilal in Khartoum.

The victory saw Masandawana remain at the top of the Group B standings with 13 points from five matches, with one match remaining in the group.

Mokwena was pleased with the appointment of Formosinho as Hilal’s new head coach as he believes he will bring a wealth of experience and quality to take the club to the next level.

‘Firstly, let us give huge congratulations to coach Ricardo and his staff. It is fantastic that Africa can recruit coaches of his calibre with his technical staff, [they have] huge experience, lots of quality and [have worked] at the highest level,’ Mokwena told his club’s official website.

‘We knew that from watching videos and getting data that the team has improved a lot within the three weeks. It is not always easy to give a team your footprint as a coach particularly within the short period of time that he has done it.

‘We knew we had to play very strong, when we didn’t have possession of the ball we had to work a little bit to keep compact and deny them spaces behind us.

‘Maybe at certain moments in the first half we dropped off too early. We were better in the second half where we induced a little bit of pressure and pressed a bit higher. We are satisfied with the result.’

Sundowns will now return to DStv Premiership action on Tuesday afternoon when they travel to the Peter Mokaba Stadium to take on Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, with kick off set for 3pm.