{"id":62772,"date":"2024-03-15T17:08:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T17:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane"},"modified":"2024-03-15T17:24:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T17:24:02","slug":"you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You can\u2019t replace him\u2019: Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena on Themba Zwane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>As the years goes by, the debate about who will replace ageing Themba Zwane is intensifying and his Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena is not going to try because it is a near impossible task.<\/p>\n

The irrepressible and highly decorated “Mshishi”, who is widely regarded as the best player of his generation, has turned 34 and it is inevitable South African football is going to witness his decline in the coming years.<\/p>\n

He is still strong for the Brazilians and Bafana Bafana, and Hugo Broos is again going to rely heavily on him when the Fifa World Cup qualifiers resume in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t replace him. One of the greats of South African football, who happens to be a family member, always says to me your biggest mistake is to put Themba Zwane on the bench,” said Mokwea.<\/p>\n

Zwane, who was an integral part of the Bafana squad that finished third at Afcon, is one of the most successful players in the Premier Soccer League with seven league titles, and he tasted success on the continent with one Champions League and Super Cup winners medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time Sundowns doesn\u2019t play well, I get that message and you speak of a man who has unearthed some of the greatest football players in the country\u2019s history and he was also one of the greatest players himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr Jomo Sono always tells me you can\u2019t replace Themba Zwane, he is a generational talent and he is a good person. When we took him off against SuperSport United, he didn\u2019t whine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThemba Zwane comes running off the pitch, he is not dragging his feet and that for me is an indication of how great he is. Mshishi does know how good he is. It will be another 10 to 15 years until you find someone who will play and maybe surpass Mshishi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going to attempt to replace Mshishi because it is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, Broos spoke glowingly about Zwane and pointed to Orlando Pirates creative midfielder Patrick Maswanganyi as a possible replacement for him in the national team.<\/p>\n

Broos is planning for the 2026 Fifa World Cup to be co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada and it is not clear if he will be contention if Bafana qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I have seen from him, he can be the one for the future,\u201d said Broos about Maswanganyi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him play last Wednesday and after the game I spoke to Helman (Mkhalele) about him and I saw him again on Saturday in the Soweto derby where he played a good game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I want to see from him in Bafana. If he can achieve that level with us, he can be someone for the future and someone who can replace Themba Zwane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not thinking about replacing Themba for now but we have to plan for it because he will be around 36 or 37 in 2026. Let\u2019s hope Maswanganyi is the one and we have solved that problem for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. As the years goes by, the debate about who will replace ageing Themba Zwane is intensifying and his Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena is not going to try because it is a near impossible task. The irrepressible and highly decorated “Mshishi”, who is widely regarded as the best player of his generation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":62771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-62772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018You can\u2019t replace him\u2019: Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena on Themba Zwane - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the years goes by, the debate about who will replace ageing Themba Zwane is intensifying and his Mamelodi Sundowns co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018You can\u2019t replace him\u2019: Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena on Themba Zwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the years goes by, the debate about who will replace ageing Themba Zwane is intensifying and his Mamelodi Sundowns co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-15T17:08:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-15T17:24:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1710510684.621891.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018You can\u2019t replace him\u2019: Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena on Themba Zwane\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-15T17:08:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-15T17:24:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\"},\"wordCount\":527,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1710510684.621891.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/you-cant-replace-him-sundowns-coach-rulani-mokwena-on-themba-zwane\",\"name\":\"\u2018You can\u2019t replace him\u2019: Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena on Themba Zwane - 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