Mngqithi and Sundowns set sights on Champions League

Winning just only the Betway Premiership will not satisfy Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi.

The 53-year-old made the bold claim on the club’s pitchside podcast during a conversation with former Sundowns midfielders Teko Modise and Hlompho Kekana.

Mngqithi believes winning the domestic league should be bread and butter for the Brazilians who will be looking to make it eight titles in a row.

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Sundowns ended last season with the Premiership crown and African Football League under former coach Rulani Mokwena.

It has been eight years since the Tshwane giants lifted the coveted Caf Champions League trophy. Not one to mince his words, Mngqithi is gunning for the biggest club prize on the African continent.

“It should be expected that we do well in the PSL but my focus is not doing well in the PSL which is why I’m talking about a transitional game. The fight to get into the box as much as we can, our counter attacks, break attacks, counter presses in and around the box,” Mngqithi said about Masandawana’s ambitions.

“The truth is that it’s not to try and talk about the dominance in the PSL because that is what is expected to be honest. You can’t be proud and make noise when you dominate the PSL because that’s what is expected but more than that, you have the responsibility to say can you win the Champions League and for me it’s something that has been lacking and honestly speaking, I think we will win it.”

On the back of a refreshingly honest admission about the Brazilians’ shortcomings in the Champions League, Mngqithi says they will give their all to end the season with more trophies than the previous campaign.

“Personally, I’m a very bad loser by nature so I always try to get into every match with the mentality to win it so if the mentality is to win every match then the mentality is to try and win every trophy that you compete for and thus opening yourself up to say that I’ve tried to win everything and how far did I go,” he added.

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“The truth of the matter is that, I do see us winning some trophies this season. In the PSL, you can expect us to have a lot of possession but I’m not interested in that emphasis because that is detrimental for us in the Champions League. That’s because in the Champions League, you’re expected to attack opponents and you’re playing against people that don’t respect you.”