South African tacticians Rulani Mokwena and Reneilwe Letsholonyane continued to wave the country’s flag high in Africa over the weekend, delivering standout performances ahead of the FIFA international break.
Mokwena maintained his perfect start at Pyramids FC, while Letsholonyane masterminded a famous victory to take Mochudi Centre Chiefs into a cup final in Botswana.
In Egypt, Mokwena led Pyramids to a 2-0 win over El Dakhleya in the Round of 32 of the Egypt Cup on Saturday evening, booking their place in the Round of 16. The match was played at the Petrosport Stadium.
Pyramids made an early breakthrough when Youssef Obama opened the scoring in the seventh minute after a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. The score remained unchanged until the second half, when Mostafa Fathi doubled the advantage in the 75th minute with a brilliant shot from inside the box.
The result extended Mokwena’s remarkable winning run to 15 consecutive victories in all competitions. Pyramids will now face National Bank of Egypt in the Round of 16 after they beat Port Fouad 4-1.
RENEILWE LETSHOLONYANE CARVING A NICHE IN BOTSWANA
In Botswana, Letsholonyane continued his good start as Mochudi Centre Chiefs head coach, guiding Magosi to a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Sua Flamingoes in the African Hero Top 8 semi-final at the National Stadium on Saturday.
It was the Kaizer Chiefs legend’s third successive win since taking charge. Mochudi Chiefs have now advanced to the final, where they will face Botswana’s cup specialists Jwaneng Galaxy in what is the local equivalent of Mzansi’s MTN8.
Meanwhile in the United States, Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Puso Dithejane’s Chicago Fire secured home-field advantage for the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
They will face Charlotte FC in a best-of-three series and will host games one and three. Chicago finished the regular season in fourth place, their highest finish since they were third in 2017.
Mbokazi was in the starting team as they lost 4-3 to Columbus Crew at SeatGeek Stadium, but Charlotte’s failure to beat Inter Miami ensured fourth place was secured at the final whistle.
In Belgium, Relebohile Mofokeng played a key role as Royale Union Saint-Gilloise moved to the top of the league with a 1-0 win over KRC Genk at Stade Joseph Marien on Sunday.
The Bafana Bafana attacker came on in the 60th minute, breathed life into the Union attack, had a shot saved, before Ross Sykes netted the winner 16 minutes later.
Union now have 29 points, one point ahead of Club Brugge. Mofokeng heads into the Bafana camp with confidence after six successive wins with Union.
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