Are Sundowns challenged enough? Mngqithi explains

For the first time in South African football records, one team won all of the trophies on offer as Mamelodi Sundowns completed a domestic treble when they beat Marumo Gallants 2-1 in the Nedbank Cup final to add to the DStv Premiership and MTN8 crowns.

Downs co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has always believed that if there were a team capable of clean sweeping in a single season, it had to be Sundowns.

READ ALSO: Sundowns seal treble as last minute Morena goal wins them Nedbank Cup

“I’ve always said that I believe Sundowns have the capacity to win all the trophies on offer and when that happens, one should give credit to the team because they give their best everyday.

“Training is not very easy because we play a very high octane game and we are demanding a lot as coaches and our analysts demand a lot too,” said Mngqithi.

“Everybody knows how important it is to give their best to Sundowns and the most important thing in this season is that we tried to have a squad where we could play any player without fear. All of the players have participated this season and we appreciate them.

“When you look at the number of matches that we have played this season, we are at match number 47 and that is not easy for our team because there is a lot of traveling in between,” he added.

While it may be delightful to collect all the domestic silverware, the pain of bombing out of the Caf Champions League every season since winning it in 2016 is one that can not be healed by any level of domestic success, says the Downs mentor.

“Next season we are going again with the same campaign in the Champions League which was our dent this season and I believe that the team gave it their best shot,” said Mngqithi, who went on to debunk the notion that the Brazilians have little or not competition in the Premier Soccer League.

“You have to be very objective and use a lot of data to justify whether it is real dominance that we are enjoying or it’s those small margins here and there. We must be honest that it is very difficult to compete with the capable coaches that we have because sometimes we spend over an hour just trying to pick the starting line-up.”