Sundowns will not take it easy against Al-Merrikh, says Mngqithi

The Caf Champions League match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Sudanese side Al-Merrikh is a dead rubber but Downs coaches may still line-up a strong team, as opposed to the expectation of fielding a rather less potent side.

Sundowns co-head coach, Manqoba Mngqithi is worried about his team’s growing injury list as Rivaldo Coetzee has added to the number of players in the casualty ward. The sides meet at the FNB Stadium this afternoon, kick-off is at 3pm.

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“Rivaldo is still injured. He was supposed to go for an operation sometime this week and he will probably be out for the next six weeks at least. There is a possibility that we might consider some of the players who were involved with the national team because of our injury status,” said Mngqithi.

“Thapelo Morena got injured in Sudan and he is still not back yet, Khuliso Mudau did not play the full match against France and that might help us in the right back position. We still have Saavedra out, Gift Motupa, Mosa is still on a 50/50 but we are optimistic,” Mngqithi added.

Asked on whether the technical team will consider resting players who were on international duty, as they linked up late with the team in preparation for this game. The likes of Teboho Mokoena, Mothobi Mvala, Khuliso Mudau and Lyle Lakay took part in friendlies against Guinea and France.  

“Fortunately we are not travelling, imagine how it would be if we had to travel to Sudan right after the international break. It is always tough to play the first game after the Fifa break, especially for a team like ours because we normally lose a lot of players in the process but this time around it was a little bit better because Denis Onyango is no longer travelling to the national team,” said Mngqithi.

“Kennedy Mweene is also around, Peter Shalulile and Brian Onyango also did not travel. But we still had quite a number of players in the Bafana Bafana team. Be that as it may, it is also very good for our players to compete in that space and see how far they are in terms of quality and their ability and how much growth they have had over the years,” he added.