Rulani Mokwena reacts to MC Alger’s leap to summit

South African coach Rulani Mokwena has reacted to his first back-to-back victory since taking charge of MC Alger in Algeria.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns man was happy to see the Algerian Ligue 1 defending champions show their strength in character. They edged previous log leaders MC Oran 3-2 on Tuesday to go top of the log table.

In a post-match interview, the 38-year-old handler is quoted by South Africa’s Soccer Laduma as having shared his feelings for the brave victory with Algeria’s news outlet Foot-Algerie.

Mokwena attributes good result to tactical tweak

“I congratulate the players and the technical staff on this hard-fought win against a strong team that put in a big performance,” the coach is quoted as saying.

“I changed the system because we were lacking balance in midfield, which led me to reposition some players. MC Oran controlled the game well, but I am happy with my players’ display in this match.”

Mokwena’s first assignment ended in a goalless draw against city rivals USM Alger the previous Sunday.

The two points dropped left the Algerian champions in 10th place on the log table.

The former Orlando Pirates man finally got his first victory when Alger beat Olympique Akbou 1-0 last Friday.

The South African ensured that his team built on his first win in charge. This time around the victory was over Oman despite that the opponents had a numerical advantage.

It took Yacine Hamadouche’s late goal to hand Alger the victory despite that they played for the better chunk of the Algerian Ligue 1 match with one man down after Larbi Tabti was shown a straight red card.