Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Orlando Pirates assistant coach Rulani Mokwena says Bafana Bafana international Bongani Zungu takes all the blame for a touchline altercation with a Mamelodi Sundowns fan.
READ: Mokwena admits to planned mind-games ahead of first Soweto Derby
Mokwena was at the centre of a healthy debate in South African football for comments he made ahead of the 2-1 victory over Chiefs on October 27, when he said: "Steve Komphela is in my opinion a big loss for Chiefs from a technical perspective."
Things escalated when former Downs star Bongani Zungu suggested in a tweet that it was Mokwena that was responsible for Pirates and Sundowns' success. Having made his name with the Brazilians under Pitso Mosimane as an assistant, it lead to a feisty 0-0 draw against the Brazilians on November 10 during which time a fan confronted him in the technical area.
However, he later told Vodacom Soccer that he urged Zungu to apologise even producing a private message from the player that read: "Hi coach, I've just seen the videos of what happened today. I'm very sorry. It's all my fault people are fighting you. I'm the one who they should be fighting. Not you. I feel really bad."
Head coach Milutin Sredojevic also got dragged into the incident and claimed that he would have slapped Zungu for his comments.
"I need to tell you something. If a player that I made... Nemanja Matic (for an example) has done (what Zungu did) to any coach, I would personally slap him," Sredojevic, said.
Ahead of this weekend's keenly-anticipated second derby of 2018/19, he concluded that he would continue to be an energetic presence on the sidelines: "It's okay my brother. I do certain tasks like substitutions etcetera, but it's okay. All is well. I'm calm."
Saturday's TKO semi-final clash is set to take place on Saturday at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Kickoff is from 15:00.
