Ahead of tonight’s DStv Premiership fixture against Swallows, Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes that every team that plays against them brings their ‘A’ game.
‘The KabuYellow’ nation recently qualified for the quarterfinals of CAF Champions League and are also in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals and know the importance of this encounter as it would put them one step closing to sealing the league this month.
The Masandawana mentor sees Maswaiswai as a very tricky team to play against with all the quality players they have got. Mngqithi also mentioned the importance of reaching their targets as a team and the responsibility of winning the next 2 games.
“ it’s always a challenge for every coach when he competes in these different platforms more especially the champions and DStv Premiership,” Mngqithi told Mamelodi Sundowns media
“We are playing an opposition that is very awkward with a lot of very dynamic players Lethukuthula Ndlovu on the right presents a big challenge on the right with he’s speed and dribbling they have also started to use Solomons as the right back Musonda is known for his ability to finish and they also have Gamaldien up top who always poses a lot of problems and we know the challenges that they might bring to the team, but we have to understand we have a bigger responsibility to make sure that we achieve our targets as a team as it is now we have a bigger responsibility to win the next 2 matches of this circle because we haven’t really done very well in this circle. he added
With Sundowns involved in 3 competitions Mngqithi acknoledged that they have a responsibilty to make sure that players understand what must be done when to comes to recovery.
“Physiologically we have to really make them to stay more focused respect the protocols of recovery and regeneration what they put into their system becomes very important what they do after the matches because a lot of rest is also very important in this space there’s not much to train to be honest,” he continued.
“We have a bigger responsibility to make sure that everything is organized accordingly to make sure that players are fresh and we always trying to freshen the team by bringing new faces form time to time but the truth of the matter is we have no choice but to go to this match with a mentality to win it and that requires the bodies that we bring into the field must be at a good state and we also trust our players they understand what is expected of them in terms of their recovery in terms of what they put into their systems because at this stage of the season the matches are coming thick and fast.”
Swallows FC are sitting second from the bottom, Mngqithi made it clear that they wont underestimate ‘The Dube Birds’ because of where they are in the league, and they will give the game the respect it requires.
“For us that is never important, because every team that plays against Sundowns they bring their ‘A’ game, they are increasingly motivated to give their best for many many reasons so ours is to always make sure that we give every match that we are playing the respect that requires and we work very hard in making sure that we do not give them time to think and maybe exploit some of our areas of weakness and the intensity of our game is always expected to be very high because of our game model so based on that we are then forced to look into the match itself and forget about the position of the opposition because every opponent that plays against us gives their best”
Mamelodi Sundowns will face Swallows FC on Wednesday evening.
