Mamelodi Sundowns are in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo this weekend for an important CAFCL meeting against AS Maniema Union, whom they will face on Saturday afternoon at the Stade des Martyrs.
The last meeting between the two sides was at home for Downs late in November 2024, where they were held to a goalless draw. The previous result in the last meeting promises an exciting fixture ahead as both sides will be looking for a positive outcome to boost their chances of advancing to the next round.
Looking ahead to the fixture, head coach Miguel Cardoso affirmed that his side had prepared well to take on hosts Maniema Union and is anticipating a difficult game ahead.
“We are reaching the last stages of the group stage which are the most crucial parts. We are aware of the conditions we are playing in tomorrow and we are aware of the opponent we are playing against and what they are capable of. We know what we have to do to win this game, where we have to take the game, and the limits we have to play. It’s important that we give our best and the result will come naturally,” he said.
For Bafana Ba Style, the mandate is one: secure a victory to increase their chances of finishing top of the table and qualify for the quarter-finals, as they currently sit second in the Group B standings. Meanwhile, the Greens and Blacks are at the bottom of the log, having drawn three games and lost one.
These results, according to coach Miguel, will be a driving factor in tomorrow’s encounter. The head coach also stated they are aware of their opponent and their capabilities. He is upbeat that despite a difficult game ahead of them, his side will emerge victorious, setting the mood for their next Champions League game which will be at home.
‘We are aware of the condition of our group. It’s a group where whoever advances to the next round will be decided in the last game. How we play tomorrow will determine how our final game will be.”
“It’s all in our hands and minds, to make sure we play to our fullest potential tomorrow so we can arrive at the last game of the group stage in the right conditions. We’ll need to focus on the details, they will need to be 100%, especially on the defense to avoid mistakes and lack of concentration. As a team, we are strong when we play focused and I hope it will be the case tomorrow,” he concluded.
Mamelodi Sundowns will do battle against AS Maniema Union on Saturday afternoon at the Stade des Martyrs. Kick-off has been scheduled for 15H00, live on SuperSport TV.
Good luck to the boys, they’re going to need a lot of it. We don’t even deserve to go to the knockout stages in my view, but I’ll still celebrate if we sneak through, hoping that the boys will pick-up their game. I’ll be watching the game just like I watched the Raja Casablanca, in actual fact all our champions league, with not much expectations. I’ll be watching the game like a neutral person. The team doesn’t inspire any confidence this season, and there’s a big possibility that we might not win anything
Eyyy!, hearts in our mouths stuff, but win is a win, especially under those conditions, we’ll take it…
It was very hot there however the boys managed to go through and we were very lucky because we were very poor in terms of our performance ,we could not even connect a few passes together, there was no aggression , it looked like we were playing with no purpose. Thank you to Shasha he showed aggression immedietly when he came on ,with diligent pressing as always, what was missing was ball players like Mshishi(hope he recovers), Maema, Modiba because for some time now our play has been very disjointed despite our straight four wins.
Also that defence has become our weakest link, Khoza still has to learn a lot, he is nit ready and lacks speed .also the middlefield is also suspect of late.When is Mvala coming back? We need his pairing with Kekana ,at least the two are used to clean sheets and can shout and guide midfielders when they are not doing well in front if them. We can be playing the wirld cup with very slow players like Musa, Khoza etc at the back ,will be finished very early.
South Africa has more than 60 million people but all the 16 PSL teams fail to scout very tall and speedy central defenders , this has been a problem ever since Lucas Radebe and Mark fish stopped playing, there ones we have have no speed at all and you have to pkay such that yoh accomodate them when doing a high press otherwise you become a victim of counter attacks.But what stops us to go outside and scout these central defenders if they are not available in SA, instead we scout a lit of midfielders that simeof the are not necessary.
The team is on a downward spiral. All I see is confusion., and lack of direction. The sooner the coach get the team playing to its full potential the better. I see red lights flashing from a distance
evening masandawana, we won but the game was very scrapy, we nearly lost the game. Kekana my boy strong and use experience because you don’t have speed.
I think the problem that you have guys is that you under estimate the opposition!! That Maniema team is very strong defensively and they play direct football with a lot of physicality!! That match was difficult and the fact that they scored first it even made the match more difficult!! Playing very exciting football like what Rhulani did won’t win us the champions league!! Why did Rhulani fail to win the champions league?? We need to play effective and pragmatic football that can win us the champions league!! This thing of crying for exciting football will not produce positive results!! How many times has Al Ahly won this tournament playing kak football? We even won points for them when they were on the verge of elimination and they regrouped and went on to win the trophy!! Wake up guys!!
Skhumba Mfowethu if you’re near me I will shake your hand,really the generation of today they just comment because we are living on world of social media how I wish we can turn back the clock and depends on media.
Firstly that country is very hot you could even saw how many water did we had yesterday and as I told you few weeks ago that team is not just a mickey mouse team and those players are physically strong.
Our fellow Dawanas are crying about Downs football and I always ask myself which is our football if we gonna fail to beat or dominate on Champs league even last season Young African we’re suffocating us big time that year it was Pedro of Luanda which knocked us out when Jali caused the peanut.Let’s not listen to our local rivals whom are always compared about the expulsion of Rhulani as if they care about us because when he was our coach they used to call him names and said Pitso was rite everytime when a coach leaves us is where he will get praised even Manqoba are saying is good.
Fancy or so called piano and shoeshine will not give us what the Management needs but entertainment,yesterday some where even complaining during halftime but now they says “We are Sundowns and Sundowns is us”not even one complaining about Flemming Berg but the day we lost they will say he must go like Chiefs used to do on poor Bobby Motaung.
Stop listening to Amafans wethu or Lindo because you will loose focus and you’ll never saw that football you like if you want it follow Rhulani at Morocco and leave us with our Cardoso,We are number one on the log but people are still complaining and if we are not good or playing badly with no style why are we not fighting relegation and pls don’t just tell me it’s because of good players we had that one it’s a big No our technical team our working tirelessly.
They’re busy boosting a workplace or taverns but on social media they will say Cardoso is a plumber just live with it ot leave us in piece Champs league is not a child’s play Downs is an open book to almost every African teams unlike before I thank you.
We only scored those two goals because we played balls in the opposition half very often not some nonsense building from the back.You can’t hurt your opponent when you play more in your own half. The main difference with us and other European teams playing from the back is, play from the back without purpose while others do it with purpose.I watched Barca demolishing Madrid last night,they play at the back for some few seconds then quickly they race forward in numbers, us we play at chameleon pace and at some point we pass the ball back when we are in the opposition half.I have never seen a team win games or trophies by ball possession but by only goals,so how can we score goals when we spend more time in our own half? Direct football is the only way to go, were knocked out of champions league many times when people were praising us for playing good football yet we have nothing to show for it.