Royal AM coach Maduka outlines the only way to stop Sundowns

Expect more of the same when Royal AM hosts Mamelodi Sundows in a DStv Premiership match on Tuesday night as both teams meet for a second time in three days. Sundowns recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Thwihli Thwahla last Saturday thanks to a late goal by Peter Shalulile.

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Royal AM defended well for the majority of the game to frustrate the Brazilians and nearly walked away with a credible draw in Tshwane before Shalulile scored the winner with four minutes left in the game. John Maduka says his team can’t afford to go toe-to-toe with Sundowns who are looking to extend their unbeaten run to 27 league games this season.

“Sundowns are a team that believes in themselves and Coach Rulani Mokwena and his technical team have done a very good job. They don’t play for a draw in every game because they go for a win,” Maduka told Phakaaathi.

“It seems like it’s in their system and to stop them you have to be tactically disciplined and that’s the one way that you can be able to stop them. You can allow them to have the ball in certain areas but you don’t allow them to come in your half because if they do that, they will cause so many problems.

“Again, when you have the ball, you must use it because if you don’t use it well, they will press you immediately. We were not far in the last game from getting a point and we can build on where we left off before we conceded.

“You have to defend well and you can’t just take the game to Sundowns because you will open on the other side. They play in every moment of the game and they can also play in transition and combination play. Tactical discipline has to be there and the concentration has to be at a maximum and that is the only way that you can stop them.”  

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Royal AM are in 14^th place on the log standings. They are two points ahead of Richards Bay who will be hoping Sundowns do them a favour by beating their KwaZulu-Natal neighbours in order to suck them into the battle to avoid the relegation-promotion play-off spot.