McCarthy: Sundowns need mental shift for Champions League

Mamelodi Sundowns are playing what is considered to be their biggest game so far this season, as they take on Algerian side CR Belouizdad in the first-leg of the Caf Champions League quarterfinal on Saturday.

The elephant in the room for Sundowns, however, is that of late, they have not been the well-oiled machine that they are know to be and going into the knockout stages, Fabian McCarthy, a former Masandawana who was part of the squad that played in the 2001 Champions League final, says there has to be a shift in mentality at Chloorkop.

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“The technical team have to prepare the players for this game, things will need to be different because they want to win this cup by all means. They have sealed the league and they lost the Nedbank Cup, so this will give them time to focus on the Champions League only,” McCarthy told Phakaaathi.

“It is a bit challenging for the coach to motivate the team, especially in the DStv Premiership because it is hard to keep the performance at that level after you have won.

“But the good thing is that you have a chance to give the other players a chance to plan for next season and to see who to keep or who to let go because they are definitely going to buy one or two players for the new season,” he added.

McCarthy would love to see Downs going all the way and bag their second Champions League title, which would be the country’s third crown as Orlando Pirates were the first to bag the so-called “holy grail” in 1995.

What followed was huge success for Bafana Bafana in the Africa Cup of Nations, and the ex-Kaizer Chiefs star would like to see history repeat itself.

“For the country, we might get an opportunity to add a third team into the Champions League or the Confederation Cup because of the points and Caf rankings. It would help a lot if they can win the Champions League again.

“The players can benefit from playing in the highest level which would be the final and in the end, it might also help players who are still trying to fight their way into the national team or those who want to go abroad and Bafana might also do well in the next Afcon based on Sundowns’ performance.”