Sundowns coach believes Rise&Shine will be more prepared
2 min read
Bafana ba Style prepare to welcome Polokwane City in quarterfinal of MTN8 at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday 11th August, coach Manqoba Mngqithi highlighted that it’s not easy to predict the fitness of players and he is not bragging much on their recent friendlies.
Masandawana will start their new season facing Rise&Shine and while they are favourites to progress to the next round, Mngqithi is not undermining their opponents.
Sundowns returned from their Austria’s tour trip where they had a preseason camp and they will play their official match on Sunday. Mngqithi wants to see how far they have progressed since he took over from Rulani Mokwena who was released by a club last month.
Mngqithi said “I wouldn’t really want to say much because at this stage, it’s very difficult to know where teams stand.
“Friendly matches never really give you a true reflection of where a team is. Because sometimes that element of pressure is never really tested. And it’s always difficult to predict what’s going to happen.”
Mngqithi went on to highlight that he don’t know much about their opponents who are quite in transfer business and revealed that he will only rely on experience of last season.
He said “Coming to our game against Polokwane City, I think it’s going to be a tough one. It is a big deal for teams like Polokwane City to be in the Top 8.
“That says a lot about our league now. It says there is a lot of competition. A team that had just come from the NFD is now in the PSL and had a very good first round of the season.
“I also believe that their coach [Phuti Mohafe] is an excellent young coach. We have played against him several times, so I know what he can do. It’s going to be interesting because this is a competition that has always been difficult for us.”
Mngqithi hopes that his troops and technical team will push so that they can once again become the Champs of MTN8.
Last time they played in the final of the competition it was previous season where they lost against Orlando Pirates on Penalty shoot-out.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
