Mokwena says his record-breaking Sundowns will be long remembered

As they edged closer to breaking the long-standing record for the 16-team DStv Premiership era of 71 points, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena said history will be kind to his all-conquering team. 

The swaggering Sundowns juggernaut also rolled closer to an unprecedented feat of invincibility — if they win or draw their remaining league matches against Stellenbosch FC, TS Galaxy and Cape Town City, they will go a full league season unbeaten. 

Downs brushed aside Royal AM 2-0 at Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday night to move to 69 points. 

The Brazilians, who wrapped up the league title with six matches to spare, need a point to equal their points tally of last season (70) and three more to break their record of 71 Sundowns set in the 2015-16 campaign under Pitso Mosimane. 

Mokwena has often said South Africans do not appreciate the hard work Sundowns put in behind the scenes as they compete in multiple competitions, including the Champions League and its rigorous travelling on the continent. This season Downs added a second continental competition, winning the inaugural African Football League, to the six trophies they entered.

“History has no blank pages and there is going to be something written about this group,” Downs' coach said after his team completed a league double over Royal AM after Saturday's 1-0 win at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“I don’t know what is going to be written but there will be something written about this group.”

To explain what he believes to be lack of appreciation for Downs' monumental effort, Mokwena gave an analogy of the battle between the crow and an eagle. 

“I am also an avid animal or nature type of person and I watch a lot of National Geographic. I watch a lot of things about nature and conservation and what happens in wildlife. 

“There is an interesting story of the crow and the eagle and if you go into it you will find the crow is always on the back of the eagle and biting its neck, but the eagle never fights back. 

“What the eagle does is it ascends to even greater heights until the crow loses oxygen and starts to fall off and that for me is a bit of a lesson in life. You may have people on your back, maybe not appreciating or maybe talking negatively about you, but instead of using energy to fight those people, you should be like the eagle and ascend to even greater heights. 

“This is because eventually you will get to a point where you are so high that they can’t maintain it and they start to fall off.” 

Royal's defeats against Sundowns brought up five defeats in a row for the KwaZulu-Natal team, who are two points above 15th-placed Richards Bay FC and in danger of being dragged to the dreaded promotion-relegation play-offs.

Sundowns' first of their three games remaining is against second-placed Stellenbosch at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.