Sundowns looking for redemption against CT City

Mamelodi Sundowns will go into Wednesday’s Betway Premiership clash against Cape Town City at Loftus Versfeld knowing they can’t afford too many slip-ups.

Their title defence suffered a minor dent following a shock 1-0 defeat to unfancied Polokwane City last Saturday.

The reigning champions will be looking to get back to winning ways against the Citizens who were the only team to leave Loftus with three points last season. 

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Steve Komphela has highlighted where the Brazilians fell short against Rise and Shine at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in their last match.

Komphela, who is a senior coach at Sundowns, is usually media-shy and prefers to work in the background but he spoke to the club’s media team after the narrow loss to City.

“It wasn’t a pleasant day for us. It was a bad day in the office. I think in the first half it was a little bit open for us to take advantage to penetrate more on the right and used more of Thapelo to find a way,” Komphela said.

“In the second half, it got too scrapy and I thought the speed of moving the ball was not complimented by the dry surface but there are no excuses in football.”

Bouncing back to winning ways against the Cape Town-based side is just one half of the story. Masandawana have still not forgotten how City ruined their near-perfect season the last time the two teams met.

Eric Tinkler’s men denied Sundowns the ‘invincible’ tag of going the whole season unbeaten in what was the last league match of the previous campaign.

“That we lost (in Polokwane) on its own was a huge setback and we are looking forward. It’s very important that we dust ourselves off and look forward to the Wednesday match. Let it come and we have to redeem ourselves,” Komphela said during a rare flash interview.

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The Yellow Nation will be boosted by the return of star midfielder Ribeiro Costa who served a one-match suspension after accumulating four yellow cards.

Meanwhile, City will miss midfielder Tshegofatso Nyama due to suspension but Aprocius Petrus returns to the team after missing out on Sunday’s disappointing goalless draw at home to Magesi FC.