Rulani Mokwena has provided insight into his first two weeks of training as new Wydad Casablanca head coach.
Mokwena was appointed to spearhead Red Castle following his exit from Mamelodi Sundowns.
Tasked with returning Wydad to competitiveness following a fifth-place league finish last season, Mokwena is aiming to secure a spot in the CAF Champions League.
The coach explained that he and his team are gradually implementing their playing style while building a strong squad. With a series of friendly matches scheduled for this week, Mokwena hopes to improve the team's fitness and cohesion.
RULANI MOKWENA PAINTS A PICTURE OF LAST TWO WEEKS IN TRAINING WITH HIS NEW SIDE WYDAD
“We are in the second week of our five-week programme. We are quietly going about our business and trying to put together a strong competitive squad,” said Mokwena.
“I have to give a lot of compliments to the work that has been done behind the scenes by everybody involved in recruiting and bringing in the players, including the technical team. They are doing incredible work.
“And of course, I have to give a huge credit to the board, the president of the club, and senior management for acquiring some of the players. This puts us coming into the second week in better shape than we were in the beginning.
“But we still have a lot of work to do. We have to push ourselves to try to get ourselves into good condition. We have certain objectives every week, and we are moving into what would be competitive, where we play a lot of friendly games.
“This will help us to try to get the condition, the personality and the methodology going. And that’s not easy because we have to try to change the personality of the team and try to induct the new players into what we believe would be our way of playing that would bring us a lot of success.
“Also, to make the supporters happy. We just have to continue to focus on that slowly but surely over the next few weeks and get ourselves in good shape.”
Last week, the Moroccan giants beat Tanzanian club Azam FC 4-1 in a friendly match that was held at the el Bacchir Stadium in Mohammedia.