Another season and another sojourn into North Africa for Rulani Mokwena, and the million-rand question is: how will things pan out for him this time around at MC Alger, the Algerian club that appointed him this week?
The South African tactician’s scars are still fresh from a turbulent period at one of the most storied clubs on the continent, Wydad Casablanca, as things went awry in his first foray up north.
What began as a two-year contract, with an option to extend for a third, ended abruptly 10 months into the tenure as club and coach terminated the relationship in May.
The decision denied Mokwena — teased as “Pep Lite” because of his reverence for Pep Guardiola — a chance to trek to the land of stars and stripes to cross swords with his idol at the Fifa Club World Cup, which concluded last Sunday with Chelsea celebrating the championship with the tariff-obsessed Orange Man of the White House.
With his head held high — some will say with his tail between his legs — Mokwena headed back home where speculation was rife regarding his next move. Jose Riveiro had exited Orlando Pirates to assume a new assignment at Al Ahly.
Was a reunion on the horizon with the club where Mokwena deputised Milutin Sredejovic, briefly served as caretaker, before being loaned out to Chippa United, many wondered.
Successor to Spanish Guitar
That door was shut when the Sea Robbers named Abdeslam Oaddou as successor to the “Spanish Guitar”.
With Nasreddine Nabi performing underwhelmingly, and the Kaizer Chiefs head honchos telling this columnist they were set to fire the Tunisian, others asked whether Naturena Village was Mokwena’s next destination.
That question was answered when some in the Chiefs hierarchy had a change of heart following the overwhelming reaction by the long-suffering army of Amakhosi faithful to the Nedbank Cup final victory that satiated a decade-long trophy famine and saved Nabi’s skin — only just.
“I will be in the dugout in preseason, whether here or elsewhere,” Mokwena told me on Power Sports Extra platform in June. “Sometimes there are things that are beyond your control… We did a very good job under the circumstances… Football has no blank pages, and doesn’t forget that Wydad is the most established and most prestigious club in Morocco. I would not have gone to Wydad if the previous coach had done better.”
The previous coach had finished sixth. “To try to measure our progress, and the work that we have done, we were extremely happy that we were able to compete for the [Confederation of African Football] Champions League, and ultimately finish number three with the squad that we had.”
The third position qualified Wydad for the Caf Confederation Cup.
Time to run the full race
That’s the past. The present and the future is MC Alger, where Mokwena took over from Tunisian coach Khaled Ben Yahia. This time he will want to run the full race of his two-year tenure.
This time, Mokoena is not entering a house of chaos but inheriting a settled side, one fully focused on football and not bedevilled by boardroom fracas. It is a clean canvas, a chance for Picasso to paint a new picture.
It is another territory to prove his tenacity and disprove the theory that he is all bark and no bite.
Alger offers Mokwena redemption to fuel his ambition and make his own contribution to the game alongside the young generation of coaches who are making marks around the world.
In our conversation on the wireless, Mokwena candidly admitted to mistakes he made during his stint at the Moroccan league. The lessons learned there will stand him in good stead in Algeria, and the learning will continue given the ever-evolving nature of the game of billions.
But there will be no room for error and no excuse for not meeting expectations. If Morocco was a baptism of fire, Algeria will be akin to walking on red hot coals. It’s a chance to disprove the view held by those who charge that he is overrated.
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