Mamelodi Sundowns are heading into their final preparations for the second leg encounter against AS Maniema Union in the CAF Champions league tournament second preliminary round.
The Brazilians rubbed shoulders with the Congolese giants a week ago in Kinshasa, both teams proved to be hungry and determined to walk away victorious, however they equalled each other’s scores with a 2-2 draw concluded after 90 minutes of playing time. Downs defender Mosa Lebusa expressed his desire for positive results in the second leg, “We are a bit disappointed considering that we gave them those two goals, it was our silly mistakes that we made.”
“They are not a bad side, they are a team that plays in your face and they don’t give you a chance. We learnt from that game, this coming Sunday we have to dig deep as a team and as players, we have to make sure that team goes through to the group stages.”
Maniema Union took the South African Champions out of their comfort zone, scoring two goals against a team that has not conceded in their domestic campaign, surprising many local supporters. Lebusa painted a picture of their opponents’ playing style.
“Out wide they have good individuals who are really direct, they don’t waste time and go straight at you. They get the ball forward to the strikers, from there they play it out wide to put in a cross and that’s what we are expecting.”
The winner of this encounter will advance to the group stages of the prestigious continental tournament, and with Bafana Ba Style having commitments in the MTN8 Cup final competition, the DStv Premiership and the pressure of advancing to the CAF Champions League group stages. Lebusa says that the team are used to dealing with the demanding schedule.
“At Sundowns the schedule is always about the next one, so we are prepared for our next assignment. Luckily we are [playing] at home, we will do what’s required of us.”
The defender also reflected on the mistakes that they made in Congo and led to the opposition’s scoring opportunities: “We are a build up team, we try to be as patient as possible during the build up, I think I was caught indecisive. As a player when you counter such moments you feel like the ground can just open up and swallow you, but the game had just started, we knew that we had to dig deep from there. After committing such a mistake, I myself as well needed to be bigger than my mistake. On Sunday we have to be aware of such, minimize our mistakes and make sure that we don’t give them a chance within the box.”
Mamelodi Sundowns go head to head with AS Maniema Union in the CAF Champions League 2nd Preliminary Round, second leg on Sunday at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, kick off is 16h00 CAT.
