Sundowns anticipate a tough battle in round two of Tshwane derby

Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena believes Friday’s DStv Premiership clash with rivals SuperSport United will be a lot tougher for the defending champions, compared to the MTN8 quarterfinal that they won on Sunday night.

Masandawana will continue their title defence after edging out United 2-0 at the Tuks Stadium, and Mokwena reckons that Gavin Hunt’s side will be looking for revenge when they meet at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“Normally, the second game is harder for the team that won the first game. We need to get into the space where we try to help them (Sundowns’ players) mentally because it’s a different ball game and a different competition,” said Mokwena, whose side are a point behind leaders AmaZulu.

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“We know that this season the league is not going to wait for anyone. If you drop points, people are moving and you can’t allow people to move too far ahead because the distance and the gap between the teams is not so big. When you have an opportunity to win matches, you have to win them. You can’t rely on catching up. We have to make sure that we are on top of our game.”

Sunday’s match was won off the bench as new signings Abubaker Nasir and Marcelo Allende scored in the final 10 minutes, giving Downs more reason to justify the change of personnel in their front line.

“We came under a lot of criticism when we had to make the decision with Pavol Safranko (to release him) but we knew that we needed a different type of strike,” added Mokwena.

“The decision was based on what type of striker we need, for the type of football we play. If you look into the game at the highest level, maybe Robert Lewandowski is the only striker that plays with his back to goal.

“But you need speed and creativity and we knew we could not get that type of player from Pavol and as much as he was excellent for us in the times that we needed him, his contribution was immense and his professionalism was incredible. It was just a decision that had to be taken.”