Komphela encouraged by Cardiff City draw

Mamelodi Sundowns senior coach Steve Komphela is encouraged by the 1-1 draw against Cardiff City in their pre-season tour of Austria.

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The South African champions are yet to win a game after three friendly matches.

The stalemate against City came on the back of defeats to SV Sandhaussen and Dynamo Kyiv. Komphela is not worried about their stuttering form as they fine tune their preparations ahead of the 2024/25 season.

“In all practice matches or friendly matches in pre-season, there are two things you look at. It’s the performances and also the results. From a results point of view, Sundowns will never wish to draw a match,” Komphela said after the against the English Championship side.

“We’re just a machine engineered to win but there are a lot of challenges in the fact that Cardiff City will always give you crosses, balls in the air and also give you problems in terms of set-play and you have to be organised which I thought we dealt with.

“Another plus is that there were also physical which takes you to another physical level in terms of your overall preparations and the objectives you’d say that in terms of you moving forward. For sure, you will see a lot of baby steps and blocks that you put as a stepping stone towards what you wish to achieve.”

The Brazilians will play in no less than seven competitions this season that includes the FIFA Club World Cup.

Komphela added that their hectic schedule in the new campaign is what informs how they are approaching pre-season matches.

“As we all know that we’re going to have a long and difficult season with different competitions that have different profiles. You’re going to have international competitions in the AFL which is continental, then you go to the club World Cup which is International and it gives a different dynamic,” he said.

“You do have domestic competitions as well including the league. So your preparations have to touch base with almost those (aspects). I think so far so good, there are players who also come back from international duty with Bafana Bafana. They played throughout and needed to be taken care of and be integrated slowly.

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“They come from a programme which they were playing and they didn’t have a rest period. When they come back to the team, they are not at the same level as the rest of the players. It’s a very complex environment that we need to navigate through but I think we’re winning the battle and ultimately, we will achieve all those objectives.”