Sundowns focus turns to AmaZulu after Champions League success

Mamelodi Sundowns have already switched their focus to Tuesday’s DStv Premiership clash against AmaZulu following the 2-0 win over FC Nouadhibou in the Caf Champions League on Saturday.

It was a job well done in Mauritania with goals from Grant Kekana and Thembinkosi Lorch enough to seal qualification for a sixth successive quarterfinal berth in Caf’s most prized club competition.

They still have one more group stage game against TP Mazembe in a grudge match that will decide who finishes top of Group A next Saturday, with both teams tied on 10 points.

The DRC giants are the only side to have inflicted defeat to Sundowns in this season’s Champions League – they recorded a narrow 1-0 victory the last time the two teams met in the corresponding fixture.

“We have to get home first, so we need to recover now. It’s a long flight and 11 hours to get home,” Rulani Mokwena said in a post-match press conference in Mauritania.

“I have to watch this game (against FC Nouadhibou) and do analysis on our performance. We have a midweek match against AmaZulu first because we take it one game at a time.

“We will see what we have to do against Mazembe but the first thing is recovery and try to be well prepared for the midweek fixture against AmaZulu.”

Domination

The Brazilians dominated the encounter and will feel that they should have won by a bigger margin had they been more ruthless in front of goal.

“We expected a tough game. We trained on the pitch so we could see that the conditions will not be the best because we don’t play on an astroturf in South Africa,” Mokwena reflected.

“The humidity and the dry air. It’s not easy and FC Nouadhibou are so strong at home. “They had some very good results at home against Pyramids FC and TP Mazembe. The four points that Nouadhibou got in the group stages were points they picked up at home.

“We expected a difficult match and it proved to be difficult with a lot of physicality and they are very organised with a very good defensive line. Today I was surprised a little bit that they played with a back five.”