Mamelodi Sundowns prepare for the 2nd Leg of the MTN8 Semi-final clash against Orlando Pirates taking place on Saturday, 22 October in Limpopo, Polokwane. Following their 0-0 draw from the 1st leg, The Brazilians are aware that the game will be tough but foresee better results in the upcoming game.
Masandawana Co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi shared his insights on the upcoming encounter given the results from the 1st Leg, he said: “I must say that we are playing a very tough match against a team that has improved in leaps and bounds and a team that has made sure that we don’t score a goal in their backyard, which makes this assignment a little bit of a tough one for both teams. We know what Pirates are capable of and they also know what we are capable of.”
Coach Mngqithi communicated that as a team, Mamelodi Sundowns go to every match to win regardless of the intensity or calibre of the match. He speaks about how they don’t let past results inflict fear or doubt, he said: “We believe that we’ve got a team that is capable of coming out of this match with a result. We are not going to take this game for granted, we know that the stakes are high. Every match that we play we always go into that match with the mentality to win, in this space it doesn’t matter whether we concede or what happens, but if at the end of the game we’ve scored more than the opposition that is the most important thing because we always want to win the match.”
“When we did not win in Orlando we did not feel good, had we had a 1-1 draw or a 2-2 draw we would still not feel good because we go to every match with one thing in mind [which is] to try and make sure that we dominate the pitch, we dominate the ball and all the metrics that we think can always help in making sure that the outcome of the game is under your control and not dependant on what other people are doing.”
Looking at the head-to-head record of both teams going into the 2nd Leg of the Wafa Wafa clash, Mamelodi Sundowns has had 4 wins and a draw in their last 5 matches played. The Buccaneers have 1 win and a draw in the last 5 matches they’ve played.
Being the defending Champions of the Wafa Wafa Cup, Bafana Ba Style are determined to fight for their spot in the Finals and reclaim the MTN8 Champions title once again. Irrespective of their results from the 1st Leg, the team is ready for the football action on Saturday and look forward to making the Yellow Nation proud.
Coach Mngqithi admits that he enjoys matches that are difficult because they motivate him and the team to work harder and look in which areas they can improve. “I like to play big matches. Playing big matches makes you dig deeper and become more meticulous in what makes a team have the respect that they have. We play good football and so do pirates. These types of matches are exactly what I like because you never know what the outcome will be.”
Bafana Ba Style take it back to Limpopo as they resume with their #HomeAwayFromHome. The MTN8 clash will take place at the Peter Mokaba Stadium and Kick off will be at 15h30.
All the best Sundowns boys win the game make us supporters happy
Masandawana some of us are on duty, could not watch the game, all I know is that we lost, we lost without scoring a single goal, is that Sundowns or am I dreaming here?
U r not dreaming my fellow Yellow it is true .The daydreamers Mngqithi&Rulani were given a football reality that Allende cannot win aerial balls against Ndah&guess what he won 100%of those balls (Olisah Ndah).Rulani was reminded that sports science is not coaching and Sundowns players are not his scientific experiments.I mean what kind of a fool who leaves Nasir&Shalulile and tell us that they are injured?The only improvement we had is that we had a short on target.The favorite players as usual were not giving us anything to smile about namely Mokoena,Modiba, Mkhulise&Allende were running around like headless chickens with a lions share of possession that was not effective at all.On right handside Tebogo Mokoena was playing a boring aimless number 8 that he made crosses for Sibisi,Maela&Ndah to head freely for the better part of the first half which means these comedians were planning for 3 weeks not to win this game.Maybe they thought Pirates was that part time team with players that are working at restaurants and hotels from that island of Seychelles,the hard reality is that Mngqithi is the biggest fool of Rulani Mokoenas who will go back to Pirates if anything goes wrong at Sundowns.Who will not sabotage a coach knowing that he will get the nod to coach Sundowns.Mashego,Botouil,Jali,Mbule,Shalulile and Nasir were left at home to accommodate lo doti siqeda kuwubukela.The question is when are Mngqithi&Rulani planning to leave our team in peace not in pieces?
I’m not the type who like to criticises coaches, but today they got it all wrong. Mid weak we struggled against a weak defence with the 3 attackers they used & they repeat that against formidable pirate’s defence? You right member Ndah was having a field day, we needed aggression. Got better when Motupa came on, he competed on headers. Wish to know the facts about Nassir & Shalulile’s absence.
I’ve asked, not once masandawana ukuthi where is Nassir on this platform, no one wants to tell us, if Shalulile is injured then we needed Nassir and Motupa on this game, Sundowns technical team isijywayela kabi nje and I hope they read this
When i saw the same lineup that played on wednesday i knew very well that we dont have a plan for this game.The tea was not balanced at all from the midfield to our attack.How do you explain playing Mvala ,mokena and Mkhulise in midfield ? Our attack was so weak cos there was no striker and this shows us the 3 wise men are quickly running out of ideas.They release our best player of last seaoson lakey with an injured mashego.They release Erasmus and now there is no strikers
I know we won’t every game or every trophy,I understood football but I when I saw a starting 11 I knew we won’t win even mad man could see that, 3 big heads failed to see their starting 11 is so weak, I think someone sold the game…. I know Rulani like Mvala but fact is that player is not a Sundowns material, deadliest diffensive Middlefield we ever have, the is nothing good about that player.. I’m still crying about Modiba uyasidlisa loya muntu I am happy he got a red card… If you are loosing a game like that and you bring Motupa you simple telling us that you give up the game,Moputa is just a player not a soldier that can give you something or take you out of bad situations… I doubt our players like Nassir are still injured but these 3 comrades they were doing their experiment reason I’m saying that they saw their team last when we were playing Marumo Gallant that is not so good and not promising but decided to bring it back..
This a sign that we won’t make it kuChampions league again, our Tech team doesn’t learn, investing on 2nd leg or your home ground is not ayoba… Same attitude that led us to bow out on champions league and now we doing it on domestic