The reason why players like Hlompho Kekana, George Maluleka and the now departed Tiyani Mabunda have had very little game time is probably because of the brilliance of Rivaldo Coetzee, who displayed why he has been the mainstay in Mamelodi Sundowns’ engine room, being the bridge between defence and attack.
Coetzee was voted Man-of-the-Match when Sundowns beat AmaZulu 1-0 on Friday night in the DStv Premiership opener at Loftus Versfeld. His coach, Rulani Mokwena has showered him with praises in what the coaching staff sees as an improved performance in contrast to his display against Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8.
He is a big player for us, a very important player for us. We were quite hard on him about the previous match against Chiefs. He works hard to make sure that he is injury free so he can play a lot of games and contribute to the success of the team,” said Mokwena.
“The first thing after the AmaZulu match, he came to me and asked ‘are you happy’, and I always say that the best central defenders are those that after a match, no one says anything about them… that’s when you know that they have had a good game. No one praises them, no one criticizes and that was Riva, not too flamboyant or elaborative, but very steady and quiet in going about his business with or without possession of the ball,” he added.
Having transitioned so well from being a central defender into a central midfielder role, Mokwena described the 24-year-old as an “intelligent” player who always gives vital input that influences the game.
“He is a special talent and a special human being. He works hard and he is extremely honest and intelligent. He has a good football brain and we get to see that every single game, in pre-match meetings. He came to us and told us about the preparation and how he wanted to press and how he felt when the ball went to the right and the left-hand side. He gave his input and from then we adopted what he said and that is why he is colossal in the changing room.”
