MC Alger coach Rulani Mokwena chose to enjoy Friday’s CAF Champions League victory over Al Hilal Omdurman rather than fret about his club’s upcoming crucial Group C finale next weekend (video below)
“Allow me to enjoy this victory first! Yes, 24 hours to enjoy this victory,” the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach said when asked about looking forward to next Saturday’s clash away in South Africa against his former club.
While he was not willing to spark discussion around his return to Pretoria, the coach had plenty of praise for his club who emerged victorious with a 2-1 home result at the Stade Ali La Pointe in Algiers.
“What (the win) does is it helps us keep things in our own hands. We targeted 10 points and now we still have a chance with one more game to get 10 points,” the coach said when asked for his response to the result. MCA moved into second place with 7 points after defeating the Group C leaders but face a daunting test they must overcome to reach their objective against group favorites Sundowns.
The Group C situation for Mokwena’s MC Alger after Friday’s victory
GPPointsGD
Al Hilal SC58+1
MC Alger57+1
Mamelodi Sundowns45+1
FC Saint-Eloi Lupopo44-3
“Good team,” Mokwena said about Friday’s opponents. “Of course, you see why they have 8 points in this group and why they are in top in that position. It’s a tough group. A lot of people don’t understand it’s a very, very difficult group. We were unfortunate to lose in Rwanda (the first meeting with Hilal) but we’ve made an agreement not to lose to the same team twice.”
The South African tactician was asked about recent signings Chahreddine Boukholda, who set up the second goal and match-winner on Friday. The French-Algerian arrived in January after a productive season-and-a-half with fellow Algeria Ligue 1 Professionnelle club MC Oran.
“I love Boukholda. I love the way he plays football. He is a classic #10, he finds space easily with a very good sense of position for the half-space. He needs to adapt a little bit to his teammates and also he needs to get a little bit of the rhythm and develop a few more things like progressing from the 10 to make runs behind…to live a little bit more in the half-spaces but it will come with time. He’s a top player.”
MC Alger 🇩🇿 coach Rulani Mokwena discusses his club’s important victory over Al Hilal SC 🇸🇩 to keep their #TotalEnergiesCAFCL quarterfinal hopes alive.
Mokwena was also asked about facing former club Mamelodi Sundowns 🇿🇦 next week. 😁#CAFCL #نادي_مولودية_الجزائر pic.twitter.com/g2Tfo5CI9R
— Pan-Africa Football (@PanAfricaFooty) February 6, 2026
MCA will see what happens on Sunday when their coach’s former club travels to face Congolese club FC Saint-Éloi Lupopo, the result of which will determine what they need to do in Pretoria next week. A victory for Masandawana would mean that the Algerian champions would have to win in South Africa. MCA would only need a draw if the reigning Betway Premiership champions fail to win on Sunday in Lubumbashi.
