Sundowns’ Brockie hopes to break his goalscoring drought

Jeremy Brockie says Rwandan side Rayon Sport have a similar playing style to Benni McCarthy’s Cape Town City team, after Mamelodi Sundowns had a chance to watch their Caf Champions League opponents in action on Sunday as they won 3-0 at home to Espoir.

Masandawana face Rayon in Kigali tomorrow in the first leg of their final qualifier for the group stages of this year’s elite continental club competition.

“It was nice to get the feel of the country nice and early and watch them playing a catch-up league game. It was a great opportunity to watch them first and see what they are all about,” said Brockie.

“We saw that they are quite a strong side at home and there are some key players who we need to keep quiet … hopefully by the end of the game we can take an away goal or two to put ourselves in a good position to get into the group stages. The main thing is playing our Sundowns way.

“I compare them to Cape Town City when I look at the balls they like to play inside the pockets of space and behind the midfield. If we can keep our defence tight and not allow those balls, that would go a long way to stopping them,” he added.

The New Zealander starred for his former club SuperSport United last year when they went all the way to the Caf Confederation final, only to lose to TP Mazembe. He finished as top scorer in the competition, and he wants to match that feat with Downs.

If Brockie can score tomorrow, it would be his first goal for the club since joining Masandawana in the January transfer window. Thus far, the 30 year-old has drawn a blank in six appearances.

“I enjoyed my time in the Confederation Cup last year and this is definitely a step up,” he added.

“One of the reasons for me joining Sundowns was their participation in the Champions League … it is something that is being spoken around the club and the boys talk about it … seeing the success that the club has had in the past couple of years.”

Sundowns won the Champions League in 2016 and reached the quarterfinals last year, where they were knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Wydad Casablanca.