An old foe lies in wait for Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals. The Brazilians will visit Cape Town City in the country’s premier knockout competition.
The Citizens used to be a thorn in the Brazilians’ flash. That was until Percy Tau produced a moment of brilliance that led to Khama Billiat scoring a goal that gave Sundowns their first win over the Capetonians. Bafana ba Style will look to repeat that feat to advance to the semifinals of the tournament they last won in 2015.
“We just want to keep on going,” Tau said. “We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully at the end of the season we will celebrate. We are happy to have progressed to the quarterfinals. We are getting closer to the main prize.”
Before Sundowns visit City they host Rayon Sports at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday with a place in the Caf Champions League group stage up for grabs for the winners after playing to a goalless draw in the first leg in Rwanda. Fans wearing yellow or any Sundowns’ regalia will be granted free entrance to the stadium while tickets cost R20.
“It’s going to be a difficult game,” Tau said. “They also have a chance of going to the group stage. But we will do our best to ensure that we go through. We know what we did wrong in the first leg, which was scoring goals. We didn’t score goals. We will try and improve from that because we like to play in the Champions League. Pressure is always there. We enjoy the pressure. It gives us the boost to play our games because what would football be without pressure? In terms of or records, it also gives us an edge because we want to do better than what we did last season. We want to do better than what we did last season, losing to Wydad Casablanca in the quarterfinals. We would love to go back to the Club World Cup. It’s a great tournament. We always think that we can do better. The coach that we have demands so much. He keeps us on our toes and he makes us feel that we did nothing. I would love to go back there and so much better.”
Tau will link up with Bafana Bafana after this match having been called up in the squad to play in the Four Nations tournament in Zambia later this month.
“I am honoured to be called up again. I am excited to go back to Ndola to play with Bafana Bafana because I was there with Sundowns in the (2016) Champions League (where we came up against Zesco United). I am just happy to be in the setup. We are part of a very strong group. We are going to have fun and ensure that we do better than the last time I was there.”
