We’ve to pick ourselves up, go again, says Maema | Breaking News

“We’ve watched some of their clips, and we are just getting into a space of forgetting what happened and looking forward.

“The coaches and the senior players are also helping us get over it and start focusing on Cape Town City because we have so much to play for.”

These are the words of Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Neo Maema, who admits that they have to move on from the Caf Champions League disappointment and focus on the DStv Premiership and Nedbank Cup.

Sundowns were knocked out in the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Petro de Luanda at the FNB Stadium on Saturday evening, losing the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Maema says their focus is now on clinching their 12th league title and also the Nedbank Cup. “We are still looking forward to finishing the league and the season very strong,” he said ahead of the Cape Town City clash in Pretoria on Wednesday (19:30).

“Following the exit of the Champions League, we only got 24 hours to be disappointed, to feel the way we feel – disappointed, to be angry and to be mad. It’s our responsibility now to shift our focus to the league; it wasn’t easy to deal with getting out of the competition that we wanted to go all the way, but it’s football, and it happens.

“We are allowed to be sad and be disappointed in ourselves because we expect so much from ourselves; we are a big club, we are top professionals, so that’s what happens. The universe doesn’t always give you what you want; you have to fight for it, and unfortunately, we got out before the semi-finals, but we are preparing to look forward to the next one,” added Maema.

The Tshwane giants need only one point in their DStv Premiership encounter at home against CT City to secure their fifth consecutive league title.

“It’s always a hard team to play against. Looking at their past five games, they’ve won four and only drew their last match. It only means that they are high in confidence and will come at us, declared the Sundowns winger.

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