Sundowns spurred on by top SA boxer as they bid to give Ahly knockout blow

As Mamelodi Sundowns target a place in the final of the inaugural African Football League (AFL), their coach Rulani Mokwena invited reigning IBF junior flyweight world champion Sivenathi Nontshinga to Chloorkop in a bid to inspire his star-studded team ahead of the two-legged semi-final tie against Al-Ahly.

Nicknamed the ‘The Special One’, the 24-year-old champion shared his meteoric rise to the top of world boxing with the DStv Premiership champions last Friday.

The Brazilians are in Cairo looking to finish the job after winning the first leg 1-0 at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday. Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams revealed what South Africa’s only credible world champion said ahead of Wednesday’s return match.

“The coach always says that success has clues. Sivenathi’s story is motivation for all of us because we all come from similar backgrounds,” Williams said.

“To hear his story and what he has achieved under difficult circumstances is proof that you can do whatever you put your mind to. The key thing that I took out of his story is perseverance and not giving up especially with the current crop of players.

“We have big ambitions, starting with the AFL now. It’s a big dream of ours and last year when they made mention that the competition was possible, we wanted to be part of it and now we want to win it.

“What we took out of his (Nontshinga’s) story is to believe that we can win it and secondly, to go out there and achieve it. It was wonderful to hear his story and hopefully his success can rub off on us.”

Confidence in Cairo

Sundowns will take confidence from their last two trips to Egypt when they faced Ahly. The last game was a 2-2 draw in the CAF Champions League earlier this year while last year’s Champions League encounter ended in a 1-0 win for the South African champions.

Masandawana right-back Khuliso Mudau is confident of yet another positive showing in a bid to qualify for the final.

“Credit must go to the guys, we worked very hard to get a goal at home because we know it won’t be easy in Egypt,” he said.

“If they had scored an away goal, it was going to be even more difficult. To park a bus is not an option but we need to make sure our defence is good because they will attack so we have to manage the pressure very well.”