Mokwena Accuses Cardoso Of Disrespecting MC Alger & FIFA
MC Alger coach Rulani Mokwena launched a strong verbal attack on Mamelodi Sundowns mentor Miguel Cardoso following a heated touchline incident during their decisive CAF Champions League group stage clash at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday.
The match carried enormous significance for both sides, with a place in the quarterfinals on the line after the two teams had played to a draw in the first leg in Algeria.
Emotions spilled over in the technical areas when the Portuguese coach moved out of his designated zone and into MC Alger’s space, an action that earned him a yellow card and drew sharp criticism from Mokwena after the encounter.
“I don’t want to talk about the things that happened outside the pitch because if Rulani walked across that opposition technical area live on TV, many people would have made a huge talk about that,” Mokwena said.
“The laws of the game prohibit any technical member from leaving his technical area and moving across to the technical area of the opposition team. If that’s not a clear sign of disrespect for the opposition’s technical area, then it’s a clear sign of disrespecting not only CAF rules but FIFA rules.
“But this has nothing to do with me because it’s not my conduct, it’s not a reflection on me, but I must ask a person who left his technical area to go to the other technical area. You have to find the reasons why that person did that and provoked my team, and what the aim of that is.
“I don’t think you saw me moving towards that and being involved in the handbags, no, not today (on Saturday) because Rulani was not misbehaving. If I knew you (SA media), you would have said that I was misbehaving, and that’s why I decided to stay down and not involve myself.”
The 2-0 win confirmed Sundowns’ progression to the last eight after they finished second in Group C with eight points, while Mokwena’s side bowed out in third place on seven points.
Cardoso, however, downplayed the incident and insisted there was no intention to provoke the Algerian bench.
“Regarding the benches, nothing special happened,” Cardoso said.
“What happened is that I approached too much and I spoke to my player, Tapelo Morena, and I told him to focus on the game.
“I think you saw me in different moments, shouting to my players to play, but I went too far, that’s it and nothing more, and I just came back to my bench.”
With their continental campaign now over, MC Alger will shift their full attention to domestic matters, where they currently lead the Algerian Ligue 1 standings with 36 points from 15 matches, four ahead of second-placed CS Constantine, who have played four games more.
Mokwena’s charges return to league action on 20 February when they travel to face MC Oran, aiming to maintain their advantage at the summit as they look to turn their local dominance into silverware.
