Mamelodi Sundowns will shift their focus back to cup action this weekend when they welcome Lamontville Golden Arrows in their first of the two legged MTN8 semifinal on Sunday afternoon.
After spending Wednesday night at Loftus Versfeld for their Betway Premiership meeting against Marumo Gallants, they will return to the Lucas Moripe Stadium for this crucial match as their quest to reunite with the MTN8 silverware for the first time since 2021 continues.
Sunday’s meeting proves to be a difficult one for Masandawana who will play a tricky opponent in Golden Arrows. In recent times, Abafana Besthende have proven to be a tricky side to beat and according to coach Miguel Cardoso, this match will be no different.
“I think that as much as it’s a two-legged qualification, we understand that it’s difficult to play away from home against Golden Arrows. Last year we played one of the toughest matches against them. They are a team full of quality and we will try to do our best and have some control on the context of the game. We will try our best to get a positive result without suffering goals,” the coach said as he previewed the match at the PSL headquarters.
The destination to the semifinals, for Bafana Ba Style, came through a tight 3-2 victory against Polokwane City while for the KwaZulu-Natal based side, a 1-0 triumph against Kaizer Chiefs was enough to see them off to the semifinals. Coach Miguel emphasised on the dangers their Golden Arrows counterparts possess, while backing his side to win the first leg.
“We will need to control the capacity that Arrows have in terms of aggression as we saw when they knocked Kaizer Chiefs out of the competition to advance to the semifinals. It will be important for us to control what happens in our box, especially during the set-pieces. We need to take the responsibility of going for a result that gives us comfort in the second round of our semifinals.”
Coach Miguel’s side has seen a few players picking up injuries very early in the season. Despite the absences of these players, the Portuguese-born tactician will hope to deliver a memorable and positive result that will see Bafana Ba Style walk in Arrows’ battlefield in KwaZulu-Natal with an upper hand.
Mamelodi Sundowns will host Lamontville Golden Arrows on Sunday afternoon at the Lucas Moripe Stadium. Kick-off has been set for 15H00, live on SuperSport.
