Pitso to field strong Sundowns squad for Chippa game

Pitso Mosimane indicated that not too many changes will be made to his Mamelodi Sundowns line-up this afternoon when the Brazilians square off against Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup last-32 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Mosimane insists that no one has a divine right to play in his first team, and especially those who do not regularly feature in his matchday squad seem unlikely to get a chance today.

“The challenge is that when you are not on the bench, how do you get into the starting line-up? What am I going to say to those on the bench? It doesn’t work like that,” said Mosimane.

“You can bypass the bench and go straight into the starting line-up like Denis just did, but that is justified by how many games you played before that and your influence on the results. We also have to respect somebody who has been playing so many games that when he comes back, he can jump the queue,” he added.

A question was posed about where on his list of priorities the Nedbank Cup fits. The coach said his side are in it to win it.

“The Nedbank Cup is important because it is the only domestic cup left for us – this and the league. The other two cups are gone. The people who have done well are Cape Town City who won the MTN8 and Baroka FC who won the Telkom Knockout. Those are the guys who can say they have done well, they got their cups. I don’t think Baroka will be unhappy to have a cup for the season, same as Cape Town City.

He adds: “What is the guarantee we will win the league? We have nothing, so who are we to say we will be resting players, and why should we alter the line-up?

“Whatever is in front of you, try and get it because we have no guarantee we will win the league and the Caf Champions League so you might go home empty- handed. For us it is to try and get something. Ever since I have been at Sundowns we get something every year so we need to get something in 2019.”

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