Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena continues to impress with his tactical nous, adapting players to unfamiliar positions to great effect. The last example is Bongani Zungu, a naturally aggressive box-to-box midfielder who thrived under Mokwena's guidance in a new role – central defence.
Mokwena's strategy echoes the successful approach of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona during the early 2010s. Guardiola famously deployed Javier Mascherano, originally a defensive midfielder, as a central defender. This tactical shift proved crucial in their dominant playing style, which emphasized fluidity in both attack and defence.
Guardiola did the same with Bayern Munich and earlier in the week, the admirer of the Spanish coach's tactics, Mokwena had used this method with Zungu against AmaZulu. The South African admitted where his inspiration came from.
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"Zungu was top, Bongs reminds me of Mascherano. You remember that role Mascherano used to play for Barca back in the day? I think he left Liverpool to go to Barca as a six and Bongs does that very well," Mokwena told reporters in a press conference after their win over AmaZulu as per Masandawana's fan vlog YouTube podcast.
Zungu's move to the backline has unlocked creativity further up the pitch. Teboho Mokoena, whom you'd expect to play alongside Zungu in midfield, has benefited from the shift.
"He complements Tebza (Mokoena) a lot because then Tebza can get a little bit higher on the pitch. You know, sometimes we think things.
"But I always believe you need the capacity from the player and Bongz has the capacity from a tactical and technical point of view, he is a big boy, very experienced. Tactically, very clued up, knows when to step in or when to fill in the chains," Mokwena said.
This tactical ingenuity has paid dividends for Sundowns, but it remains to be seen when Mokwena will try this experiment out again. The Brazilians had less options a week ago when you consider his players had needed to rest after their exertions at the Africa Cup of Nations with Bafana Bafana.
It may have been a solution out of necessity, because Zungu didn't play in Sundowns' 1-0 victory in the Caf Champions League against TP Mazembe on Saturday.
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