Sundowns ready for ‘new’ Wydad in Caf Champions League semis

Rulani Mokwena says Mamelodi Sundowns will be well aware of any tactical tweaks made by Wydad Casablanca’s new Belgian coach Sven Vandenbroeck when the two side’s meet on Saturday in a Caf Champions League semifinal first leg at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.

Wydad sacked Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido, even though he had got them to the semifinals, after a 1-1 draw with AS Far on May 3 kept the latter above Wydad in the Moroccan top flight.

Vandenbroeck has only been in charge of Wydad for one match, Saturday’s 3-1 win at Chabab Mohammedia.

“This time of season … we use a lot of moments to do video analysis,” said Mokwena, after Sundowns had arrived in Casablanca.

“On us, on what we want to do, but also on the opposition. They have a new coach, not too much has changed, the profile of the team is as it was before, with very good players, and very aggressive wing play. They have good possibilities to threaten on the counter-attack.

“There are small adaptations from the new coach. From a defensive perspective they are pressing a bit higher, and there is a bit more emphasis on build up, with (Houcine) Benyada a bigger influence.”

Benyada is an Algerian international defender who joined Wydad on a free transfer in 2022.

“We also did work profiling him (Vandenbroeck), we pinpointed his work at various clubs across Saudi Arabia and Tanzania in a lot of detal. But that is work we always do, with a lot of support from our analysts.”

Broos connection

Vandenbroeck was assistant coach to current Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos when Cameroon won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, and was then appointed head coach of the Zambian national team, but was sacked after failing to qualify them for the 2019 Afcon.

He has since coached in club football with Simba in Tanzania, AS Far in Morocco and Abha Club in Saudi Arabia.

Sundowns have a long history with Wydad in the Champions League, facing them ten times in the competition between 2017 and 2020.

Sundowns have three wins, all at home, while Wydad have beaten Sundowns on four occasions, with three draws. It is the Casablanca side, however, that knocked Sundowns out in the quarterfinals in 2017 and in the semifinals in 2019.