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- Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena addressed rumours that midfielders Sipho Mbule and Andile Jali arrived at training under the influence of alcohol.
- Both players have struggled to find regular minutes in the Brazilians' starting XI and have not featured for the club in a month.
- SAIDS chief executive officer Khalid Galant revealed that no players in the PSL's top league, the DStv Premiership, have tested positive for any illegal substance so far this season.
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena poured cold water over rumours that two players arrived at the club's training base under the influence of alcohol.
Sundowns, who are edging closer to being crowned league champions for a record sixth consecutive season, have been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons all week.
According to a TimesLIVE report, star midfielders Sipho Mbule and Andile Jali were the players identified to have pitched up atChloorkop for training under the influence of alcohol.
KickOff also suggested that Mokwena had an altercation with an unnamed first-team player last week before their CAF Champions League match against Al Ahly.
Furthermore, also according to KickOff, an unnamed Sundowns player, who has since been sidelined by the club, had tested positive for an illegal substance.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday after Sundowns eased past Marumo Gallants to advance to the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals, Mokwena said he had no issues with any of his players.
"Well, I've said, if you look for negatives from me about my players, I don't have," said Mokwena.
"I'll never speak negative about my players. Never, ever, ever. So I've got no comment on that."
He added: "I'm very happy with the spirit in the group, with the quality of the training sessions and the work that we're putting in behind the scenes."
Mbule, 24, had his fair share of disciplinary incidents during his time at SuperSport United before switching to the Brazilians.
The midfielder was suspended for being "disrespectful" towards SuperSport players and coaching staff, as pointed out at the time by club CEO Stan Matthews.
Since arriving at Sundowns in July last year, Mbule has only made 18 appearances, amounting to 581 minutes, with his last DStv Premiership league appearance dating back to the start of February against Orlando Pirates.
Jali, 32, will be out of contract at the end of June and has also fallen down the pecking order at the Brazilians.
The veteran midfielder last played at the end of January in a 2-0 win over Sekhukhune United in a Premiership clash.
News24 attempted to contact the players' representative, Mike Makaab, for a comment, but he did not answer attempted phone calls.
No positive drug tests
While winning matches does help in shifting public attention from disciplinary matters, earlier this week more rumours surfaced around a Sundowns player allegedly testing positive for substance abuse.
News24 has since reached out to the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport's (SAIDS) chief executive officer, Khalid Galant.
He confirmed that the Premier Soccer League's (PSL) DStv Premiership currently have a clean testing bill for the 2022/23 campaign with no positive test results for any illegal substance abuse.
"The PSL is a big tournament and when I say PSL, I mean the Premier League (DStv Premiership). We do test regularly in the PSL," Galant told News24.
"If there was a positive [test] in football, we'd go through the normal process of disclosure.
"There's a process. The club and the athlete have the right to disclose it if we were ever to charge an athlete, but we haven't charged any football player to date (this season)."
News24 attempted to reach out to Sundowns for a comment, but attempted phone calls went unanswered.
Sundowns are back in action against Stellenbosch FC on Sunday at the Danie Craven Stadium.
Kick-off is at 15:30.
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