Coach Manqoba says his charges have had enough time to prepare for the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final, which is taking place on Wednesday evening at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, and are ready to take on Stellenbosch FC. This comes after Masandawna won 1-0 against Polokwane City two weekends ago in the quarterfinal.
“I think the preparations have gone well. We have had enough time to prepare for this game, making me believe the team is ready for the match. We had a four-day cycle to prepare for this match, when normally, our maximum time to prepare is two or three days. So, we are fortunate this time around to have had four days. I think everybody has adapted well,” Coach Manqoba stated.
While not resting on their laurels, the Brazilians are aiming to emerge victorious in this home encounter, so they may head to the second leg with the upper hand, even though coach Manqoba admits they are playing against a tough opponent.
“We are playing against a team that is slightly different. This is a team that reminds me a little bit of my old Golden Arrows team. They are very dangerous off the ball. When we play against such a team, we have to always take care of the ball and make sure that whenever there are opportunities to punish, we try to punish and terminate the attacks, because if you don’t, they will spill over to counterattacks – they are very dangerous there. Rest defence must also always be on point, because that’s where we can be caught. I’m excited to go to this match and see how far we will go.
The Umzikulu-born coach also gave an injury update on shotstopper, Ronwen Williams and the newly signed Kegan Johannes, saying: with regards to Kegan Johannes, he is still out for this match because he came just after he had done an operation with SuperSport United. So, he is very close as he has begun to train on the pitch. We are hoping that probably in the next few weeks, he will start competitive training.”
“Ronwen is also very close. He is now off the physios, he is now with our biokinetics. It’s just a matter of time before he comes back to full training. We are hoping that probably – if God is with us in the second round of the semi-final – maybe he might be there,” he concluded.
Mamelodi Sundowns will host Stellenbosch FC on Wednesday evening at the Lucas Moripe Stadium. Kick-off is scheduled for 19H00.
I am disapointed by the lack of commitment from some of our players, Mdau is worse ,he was running with the ball and in the process the opposition would regroup and by the time he makes s cross he can’t find our players.Morena must replace him, Mokoena is also relaxed or perhaps the style of play does not suit him, we need players with energy, Maboe can play better, we need ball players like Mshishi and Maema ,take back Modiba to his left back position. We need Mvala and Kekana as centre backs because kekana and Lebusa combo is not working.I do not want to blame Rebeiro, Shalulile , Methews, and Sales because the type of football we play does not suit them. With Mshishi Maema,Maboe, Allende,Morena and Modiba dominating that play we can unleash the best out of our players up front.This direct long ball alone and crosses is not assisting us. Let out players play the ball yhe way they are used to, those longa balls will come sponteinously from abo Mvala and Kekana when they see spaces, ley it not be pre-ocupation by our players please.
Mina what I can say it was a blessing in disguise that we lost,we can reinforce or give others a chance to play before the season starts and what we must remember every seasons we starts slowly until we momentum.
Lastly maybe I’m wrong but Mashego is not make sure I don’t know how he gets chosen ahead of others I mean the boy is pathetic I don’t care even he comes from Mamelodi township but he’s not Sundowns material.
To those who still cry for Rhulani why don’t you follow him because even himself we were struggling when the season starts and my question is how many trophies did we had when he was a head coach or people are crying about the possession football with a slender goal we used to have during his time.
We will be unstoppable come the start of the season because Rayners and Nasri will be available let’s not panic and I know on Sunday we’ll be a different team.
Yesterday we were tortured by the coach himself why ddnt he substitute Mathews earlier and bring Zwane to b a cog and a glue 2 paste midfield &the striking department.We played positively only after 78 minutes 12 minutes 2 go the whole game we were subjected to Mngqithi staring at the game not showing any sense of urgency. Mngqithi we were advocating for your recognition at Sundowns don’t rest on laurels, don’t disappoint us plz.
At least Rhulani was knock out on final twice unlike now we out on semifinal and also CAF twice on semifinal this season i don’t see Sundowns reach on knock out stage Sundowns really too big for Manqoba ungbuza ungiphale ulimi nanka amahlo soke sbone
That was very ugly, I don’t know if they’ll recover & play a better football. Lack of purpose & directionless. What kind of system is that. Players look emotionally down. Is this the end of our reign ?. Maybe it was a mistake to fire the coach, but here the signs are very bad
Spot on member, some players were emotoionally down, there was no passion at all, they only reacted when we were down.Rulani is gone and it is no use to cry over spilt milk ,let us support the current technical team and the players mudt also do likewise.The technical team, especially Manqoba snd Steve, must realise that the club by appointing them ,it wanted continuity and not start from scrach and as such they must not dismantle what Rulani built instead they must build on it.
Slow ball rotation,lake of zeal,in fact we played with a lot of fear,you could swear we were playing an away leg of the champions league.I was against appointment of Manqoba because he was demoted owing to poor performance but,after hearing his interviews promising us attacking football i was optimistic.I did not see any attacking last night,all i saw was copy and paste of Rulani’s football,with no hunger and aggression.We only played well after Allende was shifted to where Modiba was playing,Let us play players according to their strength.Let us play players who are fit enough to attack from the first whistle not those who will only attack in the last quarter of the game. My coach your future is in your hands,if you don’t change your approach to the game ,i don’t see you lasting five games.I watched first 20 minutes of Pirates vs City game it was all fire works from the word go but ours was like preseason friendly game.Guys pull up your socks.