Mngqithi happy with strong end to Austria tour

The countdown to the new PSL season is underway and Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has given an honest assessment of his team’s readiness following the trip to Austria.

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Sundowns ended their pre-season tour of Europe with back-to-back wins against Al Arabi and Al-Hilal. Mngqithi was left impressed with how his charges fared as the start of the new campaign draws closer. 

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“To be honest, I was not really sad with the first two results … I think in the first match the team played really badly. Maybe it was a long trip and we had a activation a day after and played a match and I think it was a little bit suicidal and we were a little bit flat,” Mngqithi said.

“The Kiev loss was not a loss for me because I think in that match, our application was very good and we created a lot of opportunities. That’s when I started seeing that our structure is coming in and the work of the coaches, as well as our conditioning department.

“If you look at how this team ran, it really shows you we are building up and it would have been nice to still have had one or two more games from here but we have a strong belief that the team is getting together and in my honest opinion, I think we’re almost there.”

The defending champions of newly-named Betway Premiership returned to South Africa last Saturday to finish preparations ahead of the new season. Mngqithi praised new signing Arthur Sales and veteran goalkeeper Denis Onyango who saved a penalty from former Newcastle United and Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic in the 2-1 win over Hilal. 

“I was also impressed with Sales coming in because we want to see what he could give us because his condition is not yet at our level in terms of intensity about the work that he’s putting in. He’s very clinical and we believe we’re going to benefit a lot from him,” he concluded.

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“It was also nice to see Denis back because he had an injury on his hand so we were not too sure if he was going to make it but when he came in, he showed his class. He saved a penalty and we’re very proud to have a legend like him. It shows the quality we have in the absence of Ronwen Williams that we have a very strong goalkeeping department.”