The disappointment from Mamelodi Sundowns’ Caf Champions League campaign last season will push the Brazilians to claiming continental glory this season. These are the words of veteran goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene who has a Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations winners’ medal.
Sundowns failed to get out of their group in the last edition of the Champions League that was eventually won by Esperance of Tunisia. They are driven to make up for that failure this season.
Bafana BaStyle take on Al-Ahly Benghazi in Egypt on Sunday in the first leg of the first round of the Caf Champions League before hosting the return leg at Loftus Versfeld. The winner, over two legs, will advance to the group stage.
“It’s good to learn when you fail,” Mweene said. “It means you were short of something which you need to fix to advance to the group stage and beyond. We have learned a lot. When you fail, that’s when you identify all your mistakes so that you can rectify them. For us, there is a lot that we learnt. We saw our weaknesses and worked on it. This time around we want to go all the way. We didn’t finish teams when we had them on the ropes and they came back and hurt us. Those are the things that we learned. We reflected on it. We aren’t at our best in terms of scoring goals but it’s looking good at the moment and that was our main problem in the last edition of the Champions League.”
Sundowns are a team in transition after the departure of Percy Tau and Khama Billiat. The likes of Toni Silva, Lebohang Maboe and Ali Mezza are still finding their feet – especially in the Champions League. Mweene believes that the role of senior players will be key during this transition.
“Coach Pitso Mosimane has started to rebuild the team,” Mweene said. “There are new guys like Toni Silva, Ali Mezza, Gaston Sirino, Lebohang and Phakamani Mahlambi. They have to gel with the team and know how to play in the Champions League. They have to learn a lot of things. It will take a bit of time but that’s not an excuse. But also the players who have been there before, we know the feeling and we are experienced, we have to help the coach. Players like Hlompho, Anele, me, Denis, Anthony and all the other guys who are experienced and have been in the final of the Champions League have to help the coach so that the new players can integrate easily.”
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I saw the highlights of our CAF game and I was very impressed with Mahlambi performance and work rate,his hunger and speed is what we need to demolish our opponents.The combination of Brockie,Mahlambi,Serinho,Jali and Maboe will yield the desired results if we stick to it and also be patient with them.Coach you have talented and skillful players give them freedom to express themselves and don’t shout at them when they make mistakes,instead encourage them and you will see wonders.Lastly,Lebusa and Rivaldo are special acquisition to our team,they are so solid like they have been with us for years and they should both play for Bafana.
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let me take this time to congradulate the boys for a good prefomance in Cairo even if we did not win. We had chances but we were just unfortunate not to score, Phakamani played very well and i think coach you have a striker that can play with Jeremy.i suggest that you use him and not buy a striker.I believe that we will kill the game in Pretoria. Phakamani is raising his hand everytime he is selected, Some players are not doing that. Ok let us support the team this coming saturday.
if continue playing your favourite Brockie u kiss trophe and says goodbye u repeat same mistake as season before u were fielding ZAKIRI AND VILA Although were performing Sekotlong can do much better than Brockie even Malajila is better
We should practice penalties
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Brockie is a good player but not for
sundowns, his movement live a lot
to be desired, he is also very slow on
the ball. I think
Sirino’s artitude need
to be corrected & his decision making its like he is tired of playing for sundowns
how can he shoot when the angle is
awkward, when the angle is right he choose to pass.. Pitso is rushing to bring a
a new striker, while he has not given Mezza a fair chance. not given sokotlong a
fair chance
Pitso is unfair to many sundowns
players. he want to
bring on new players
while a huge number
of players has not played .. we do nt need a new player..
Pitso prioritise incorrect by putting CAF champions league 1rst . secondly premier league other cups DOLOLO. we are a big
team that must challenge for every cup , but Pitso reduce
Sundowns into what he wants. he want to win the champions league so that he can go to club world cup..
so every body must
listen to every excuse he makes… last season Memela & Qalinge were on form . but they got
injured but Micho managed to use the players at his disporsal now pirates
are no1 beaten in the
finals of telkom cup. when was the last time where we went to the finals
Pisto!! stop shouting at the players when makes mistakes,and give them freedom to express themselves,of course for the benefit of the team,,otherwise you are a great coach,please don’t delay substitute,when needed..your plan should be above everyone,including you,on the day,u must learn to submit to it..and sundowns will be the winner..
Member do you mean the coach should not correct players when they make mistakes? you say the coach must have a plan for the day and he must learn to submit to it, MMMMM ok.
Onyango 33, Mweene 33, Arendse33 , Kekana 33 Laffor 33, Langermaan 32 & Malaijila 32
We need these guys to go and coach at our development..
Solari is building a new team at Rea madrid. When is the coach going to take our development serious? Last year there was an U17 tournament in Nike centre . Hamren was there to watch our future stars even Manqoba was there . only PITSO was not there. How supportive is Pitso to the development structures?
I think Sekotlong is one player who is much underrated and I believe we have not given him enough time ,the dude is good and he could excel especially if played with speedy and wise players around him.
His( Sekotlong) combination with Mahlambi could be that of Brazilian Romario and Bebeto if given a chance, and be told to play most of the time close to each other up front and spring off their markers with pace to score those goals, with Kekana supplying them with those long balls.Maboe ,Mshishi and Sirino also making those one twos to connect them.
Major thanks for the article post.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Just to ask, don’t you think we need a striker? We can blame Pitso but the Strikers we have have not delivered to Pitso’s expectations hence us supporters we demand goals. What do we do? By talking of a purchase it triggers the accuracy of the current guys, it takes them away from complacency and work hard to prove a point, injuries are always a set back, transfers are also a setback , imagine if Tau and Billiat would still be with us, all the strikers we have would be playing better when ever given a chance, they are playing well but its not good enough because they are not converting created chances, there is no team that can penetrate the opponents like Sundowns in the League, and there is no team with such a poor conversion ratio like us, all those near misses across the bars or side contribute to the poor conversion ratio, what can make us happy is when the ratio will be at least 2:1, every two chances created , one becomes a score, if that could be true, we would be having more than 40 goals by now. We create a lot of chances, we miss them a lot, only if we can be more clinical at the last third then it will be justified why we should not bring one more striker with a talent. We need someone whom the defenders will mind, when they think of their adrinaline level goes up, till we have such a striker we are an ordinary team of stars. A striker that needs 3 defenders to think of including the coach will give others a chance to score even if that strikers scores not.
@Bango you are right a very good topic, I think our conversions are not good, We tried all our strikers including Silva but we are missing one on ones on many occasions, I suggest the coach use Phakamani more often. unfortunately good strikers are scarce, Silva tried his best but he is missing one on ones, not good enough as a foreigner, Ngoma was fielded in one game and he nearly scored , fielded in the next game could not see him for the rest of the game,Jeremy is a natural goal scorer but something is missing from his touches we need to built around him.
Bongo i understand your point i u been to the market fail get right product give others chance such as Sekotlong .Malalaji and try young Shozi /Mkhulise/mohomi team is about combination an one can score goals even difenders
Member I think Sekotlong is not scoring goals when given the chance, maybe Malatjila did not get enough chance as he was always injured, I don’t know if he is impressing from the training.Currently our midfield is coming together you cannot compare Mohomi with Kekana and Sugar, this defensive midfielders are also scoring goals, let us not put too much pressure on Mkhulise a good young player that is being groomed. we rushed and pressured the coach to use Makgalwa and today the boy and the Zakri who complained about favouratism are struggling and eventually caused Fadlu his job. we are making good combinations but we need somebody who will know when to chip the goalkeeper or put full laces, or dive head the ball etc.when we start winning the coach can make early substitutions and more players will get the chance.
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Pitso is not fair to all players, some are not given a chance, Malajila, Setloung, Mezza, just to name a few, can do better than BROCKIE.
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