Motsepe appeals for support as Sundowns suffer defeats in Austria

Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Tlhopie Motsepe is not reading too much into the club’s poor performance in pre-season matches so far.

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The Brazilians have recorded back-to-back defeats in Austria against German lower division side SV Sandhausen and Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kyiv.

The DStv Premiership champions will play English Championship side Cardiff City next Tuesday before wrapping up the tour with a double header against Al Arabi SC and Neymar’s Al Hilal three days later.

“There’s a boxing quote by Muhammad Ali that says ‘train hard so that you can fight easy’ and if you look at the quality of opposition we’re facing this pre-season, they are respectively very strong and challenging football clubs,” Motsepe reasoned.

“So the results that we’re seeing are setting us up for the calibre that we might find ourselves playing against at the Club World Cup. That’s what we’re doing, we’re stretching ourselves now so that when the season commences, then we’re ready.”

Motsepe appealed to Masandawana faithful to get behind the team in the new season as they aim to break more records in the PSL.

It remains unclear if Sundowns will appoint a new coach after the departure of Rulani Mokwena. Manqoba Mngqithi and Steve Komphela are currently in charge of the star-studded side.

“If there’s any message I want to give to the Mamelodi Sundowns supporters at this time, it’s the same thing I’ve always said at the end of every season. Thank you for the support and we are going to need you,” he added.

“What’s happening at the club is that we’re in a process to make sure we’re set to be in the best possible position to make this one of the best seasons ever that we’re going to have in our history.”

The media-shy administrator was speaking on the sidelines of Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala’s funeral service at the Grace Bible Church in Soweto on Thursday.

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Tshabalala is credited with the birth of a playing philosophy that he coined shoe-shine and piano during the golden era of the Sundowns 1970’s team.

“We know that football evolves but just like human beings, we have our ancestors and our roots. We’re all different versions of those ancestors so when we go to the club world cup, we want to try our best to make sure that shoe-shine and piano is expressed and shown in a modern way with the rest of the world,” Motsepe concluded.