Sundowns guarding against complacency ahead of final against Magesi

Mamelodi Sundowns are guarding against complacency ahead of the Carling Knockout final against Magesi FC at the Free State Stadium on Saturday.

The experienced pair of Mosa Lebusa and Lebohang Maboe are not underestimating their opponents.

The Brazilians are overwhelming favourites against Magesi who are in their first season in top-flight football after securing promotion from the Motsepe Foundation Championship last season under Clinton Larsen.

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The Betway Premiership newbies have punched above their weight class to reach their first cup final. Orlando Pirates, TS Galaxy and Richards Bay were all knocked out by the unfancied team.

Lebusa knows all too well the feeling of being an underdog in a major final. The 32-year-old was part of the Ajax Cape Town team that shocked Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 to win the MTN8 in 2015.

“It will be suicidal for us to think that they’re a small team because with them being in the final it speaks volumes so we have to give them respect,” Lebusa said.

“We have to acknowledge what they’ve done to get to the final but at the same time, not to neglect the qualities that we have. We’ll go out there guns blazing to make sure that we put our hands on their throats.

“It’s always good to kill the game early but I think the important thing would be our rest defence. You’ve seen how they break out so we have to make sure that we don’t lose balls in dangerous areas. We have to play our normal game, make them run and rotate the ball from side to side and at the right time maybe go direct.”

Maboe, who has also assumed a role of a senior player within the Sundowns team, insists that they won’t be taking the Limpopo side lightly.

The former Maritzburg United attacking midfielder has called on his teammates not to rest on their laurels for the cup decider in Bloemfontein.

“I think we can’t be complacent and think that we deserve to win the final. We would like to go with the mentality that we know it’s not going to be an easy game and also stick to our own guns,” Maboe added.

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“Like Mosa said, we can’t give away possession in areas where they can hurt us especially on the left hand side because that’s the side they use for transitions so we need to guard against that.”