Local Soccer

Maema looks ahead as Sundowns need just one point to seal the title

Any result apart from a defeat tonight will see Mamelodi Sundowns being crowned DStv Premiership champions for the fifth time on the spin.

ALSO READ: Pitso’s words are prophetic as Sundowns slide out of Champions League

Downs welcome Cape Town City to the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in a match where they can wrap up the league with four games to spare.

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The defending champions have collected 57 points so far and their closest rivals Royal AM are sitting on 45 and have played a game more than Downs.

The KwaZulu-Natal outfit can only reach Downs’ point tally, 57, if they manage to win all of their last four matches.

The Sundowns players are aware that they stand a chance to seal the deal tonight, but what is more evident is that their wound is still bleeding from the embarrassing Caf Champions League exit at the hands of Angolan side Petro Atletico.

However, attacking wizard Neo Maema says credit has to go to the coaches at the club, who are holding the hands of the less experienced players.

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“The coaches and senior players stay focused on Cape Town City because we still have so much to play for, because the league is still there together with the Nedbank Cup. We want to finish the season very strong but it wasn’t easy to get over that,” said Maema, before he gave his thoughts on tonight’s opponents.

“Cape Town City are a really tough team to play against, looking at their last five games, they won four and they drew their last game. It means they are high in confidence and they are going to come at us and we are expecting that. We have also been preparing for them, watching their clips and we just got into the space of forgetting what happened and looking forward,” he said.