Mamelodi Sundowns are the only team yet to lose a game in the 2023/24 season so far and after breaking several records and creating new ones, head coach Rulani Mokwena is focused on raising the bar again.
The Brazilians beat Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8 semi-final second leg 2-1 on Saturday at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria, earning a 3-2 aggregate victory and a place in the final.
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Mokwena knows that Sundowns will always be judged with a different yardstick compared to the rest of the league, and he discusses whether his squad is going to be under pressure to deliver in a season with four domestic competitions and two Caf competitions, the Champions League and Super League.
"Aah, aah. No. Pressure is on society as to how we are going to deal with this revolution of artificial intelligence because it will come with a lot of job losses," said Mokwena, deflecting the expectations for the MTN8.
"It will revolutionalise the way human species live and operate. I think that's the biggest pressure we have. It's even bigger than global warming which is another pressure.
"So, we have to focus on football. We are privileged that we are involved in the game and the sport that we all love and that God has graced us with the opportunity to use to make millions of people happy.
"Ours is to try and continue to make not only the Mamelodi Sundowns supporters happy but the football fraternity happy because what we try to do is to give it all to the game of football and if you understand then you will see why I receive messages, emails and the messages I am receiving from top coaches in Europe talking about how they admire us and in a way to copy some of the things we do.
"For me that already signifies the magnitude of the blessings we have. Blessings and burdens are cousins. And the blessings of that comes with the burden to maintain that and put our feet on the ground and stay focused and continue to do better," Mokwena concluded.
