Amakhosi coach Muhsin Ertugral has accepted an apology from Sundowns captain and Bafana Bafana defender Benson Mhlongo, the Brazilians skipper made a formal apology in person and on the official Sundowns website this after he stamped on the foot of the Chiefs coaches foot during Sundays Nedbank Cup last 16 match at the ABSA Stadium in Durban. A match which Sundowns eventually won at the time when Mhlongo stood on the Chiefs coaches foot The Amakhosi were leading 1-0.

Mholongo apology

The Sundowns captain after meeting the Chiefs coach in person and apologizing for his actions issued the following statement on the clubs website “I apologize to coach Muhsin Ertugral for my improper actions and I hope he find it somewhere in his heart to forgive me. As players we need to show more respect to officials and be good role models for the youngsters. It was in the heat of the moment and I also want to apologize to the Chiefs supporters and management,” he said. Mhlongo added that, “It was unprofessional of me to allow the frustration of being a goal down go to my head and I regretted it later. It was the pressure of the game, we were chasing the game and trying to equalize,” he said.

Ertugral accepts

Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com on Monday Ertugral said of the incident “Benson came to me at the Durban airport on Monday and said that he was sorry for what he had done to me during the match, at the time of the incident I was upset but that is part of the game. I have accepted his apology and I find it very big of him that he was able to come up to me and say that he was in the wrong, very few people are able to do that and that action alone has shown me that he is sincere about his apology. In a match of the kind of intensity that we had on Sunday these kinds of things are bound to happen I have now put it the incident at the back of my mind, we can now all move forward from here on”.