The beef between Mamelodi Sundowns boss Rulani Mokwena and his TS Galaxy counterpart, Sead Ramovic is still raging on as the two managers faced off on Monday night. Mamelodi Sundowns hosted TS Galaxy in a DStv Premiership match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium but the Rockets lost 3-0.
After the match, Mokwena accused the Bosnian mentor, Ramovic of reminding his players of a horrific injury his striker, Bernard Parker sustained after a tackle from Sundowns midfielder Bongani Zungu in October. According to Mokwena’s sentiments, it seems Ramovic implied that his players must avenge the injury on Parker.
Ironically, it was Parker’s first match in action since the injury which saw him break his leg and had to be on the sidelines to recover. Mokwena says he is disappointed as Galaxy midfielder Orebotse Mongae tackled Zungu on Monday night and saw red.
Mokwena and Ramovic Have Serious Beef
The 37-year-old mentor claimed that the tackle on Zungu was intentional after Ramovic allegedly reminded his players of the Zungu challenge on Parker.
The injury on Zungu happened just before Parker came on to replace Samir Nurkovic in the 3-0 defeat in Tshwane. The former Kaizer Chiefs star made his first appearance after a tackle by Zungu broke his leg in October, but by the time he entered the pitch Zungu – a substitute himself – had already been stretchered off.
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“I’m disappointed with the tackle on Bongani Zungu, very disappointed,” he told SuperSport TV.
“Because I was told already last night that the coach on the opposition showed that tackle that Bongani Zungu did on Bernard Parker and said ‘don’t forget what Bongani Zungu did.’ And I’m very disappointed because these things happen. And I can say again to you that Bongani Zungu’s tackle can happen in any other game, anywhere I’ve seen worse tackles. We’ve even got Nasir out injured, but we’ve forgiven and moved on because it’s a contact sport, but we go and intentionally injury players and we send out these things, it’s a bit disappointing from a professional level. But anyway, we do the talking on the pitch.”
Ramovic Hits Back at Mokwena on Zungu’s Injury
In his post-match and address to the media, Ramovic hit back at Mokwena, saying that he is gutted to hear such sentiments from a professional coach, adding it is ‘so low’ of the coach to say such. iDiski Times probed Ramovic after the game at Loftus about the incident, and Ramovic said it was a false accusation to suggest it was deliberate.
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“I didn’t see the thing either but I have to see it, I think that [okay] ironically it’s the player that injured Parker yes, but I can be sure nobody from our team will do anything on purpose,” he said.
“I heard from SuperSport that Mr Sunshine said that we did it on purpose to do something, to say something like this is very low. And I didn’t want to comment on it because I learnt from the past.”
“Because if a person uses ignorance, you don’t need to do much and let them talk and this is what I will do. I can promise you guys we’re fair as a team, we stick to fair play, we want the sport to unite and not divide and we will never do anything on purpose to hurt anyone. This is our rules [at TS Galaxy] this will be up until this club exists, we will always be fair team.”
Meanwhile, the two sides are scheduled to lock horns for the second time in the league when Sundowns visit Mbombela Stadium on May 28.
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