I’m not sure if we’re ready – Pitso 

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane admits he is slightly in the dark ahead of the much anticipated restart to the 2019/20 football season.

Masandawana will kick-off proceedings against Bidvest Wits in a semifinal of the Nedbank Cup on Saturday evening at the Orlando Stadium.

READ: Sundowns hit by injuries ahead of Wits clash

Ready or not, the show has to go, says Mosimane who, at this point, is uncertain about the readiness of players.

“Ready? I am not sure, let’s see how football is under COVID-19. I have got my expectations from what I have seen (from other leagues) on television so I can presume and all that. But we will have 11 players on the pitch, we will have five substitutes, we will have all of the Covid-19 protocols observed and we will play,” said Mosimane.

“Everything happens under the umbrella of football under COVID-19 now and what we used to do before the virus and it worked, it falls out now because the program is different. The body is totally different and the mind, I don’t know about that because some players have got different mentalities about playing football under this space,” he added.

“Jingles” went on to say he has observed that some players may not be vocal about it, but they seem to suggest, at least in body language, that there might be a slight lack of appetite ahead of returning to the pitch after about four months of idling.

“Even other players in Europe did not want to play, for example, N’Golo Kante from Chelsea decided that he is not coming back until everything is right and everything is almost ready. Players might not want to talk. I don’t know how they react with other players at the time when they have to mark man-to-man, set-pieces and corner kicks.

“The guys are sweating and we know that they spit on the pitch or sneeze, how is my player going to react to this kind of situation? I can’t confirm. Everything under COVID-19 I cannot confirm. We will have an experience after the Wits games. La Liga will tell you, the English Premier League and the Serie A will tell you but we will talk afterwards.”