Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says their 4-0 win in the Egyptian Premier League will not alter their preparation for their CAF Champions League tie on Saturday.
Sundowns face the reigning champions and their former head coach Pitso Mosimane at the Cairo International Stadium in the blockbuster Group A clash – with the top spot up for grabs.
The Red Devils eased to victor on Tuesday evening over Misr Lel Mekasa and managed to ‘rest’ the likes of Percy Tau. Ali Maaloul and Mohamed Abdelmonem – all of whom are expected to feature against the Brazilians.
Despite Mokwena acknowledging that it wasn’t their full-strength squad, he feels they have studied their side enough to feel prepared for the mouth-watering fixture.
“We know it’s not going to be easy but I’m sure the Al Ahly camp speaks the same language and they also have an understanding that it’s not going to be an easy game for them too,” he said ahead of the game.
“We watched their game last night because clearly if you look at the line-up last night, you are very very sure the two centre-backs, maybe apart from Yasser in that back-four is a predominant starter.
“They could still have a Tawfik, I’m told he’s injured but you never know it football or a Hany to play at right-back, they have Ashraf who can play there at left centre-back.”
He went on to state that they want to be in control of their own destiny and the outcome of the fixture and the only way they could possibly be blindsided by Mosimane – is if he’s prepared a new plan in one day ahead of their fixture.
“We are prepared, we know where they are strong, we’ve watched their games, we know that in games like this, preparation becomes an invisible match – because for sure clearly there will be a lot of work that goes into preparing us for the other side,” Mokwena explained.
“We want to be in a space where we’re in a bit of control of our destiny although in this game of football it’s difficult.
“With a game mid-week, a recovery day and possibly only a match-day minus one how much work have they done to come up with new things.
“So we’ll try to make sure we’re in that space where we don’t leave ourselves surprised by what we should expect.”
