Downs at a high point ahead of Champions League, says Mngqithi

Mamelodi Sundowns tactician Manqoba Mngqithi is happy  that several of his key players have not played a lot of games as the CAF Champions League group stages loom large.

Several instrumental Sundowns players such as Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena, Khuliso Mudau and Mothobi Mvala missed many games this season for different reasons. Williams and Mvala struggled with injuries at the start of the season, while Mokoena and Mudau were frozen out a few weeks ago.

Iqraam Rayners scored twice with Mudau and Peter Shalulile also on the score sheet as Sundowns thumped 10-man Chiefs 4-0 in the Carling Knockout quarterfinals at FNB Stadium. Inacio Miguel was sent off in the 54th minute.

Downs had scored three unanswered goals against Cape Town City in the league three days earlier. Mngqithi feels they were “peaking at the right time” and he is happy they will start the Champions League group stages with a number of his important stars fresh having been used sparingly. 

“We wanted to peak around this time. We didn’t want to arrive at this time with most of these players having a lot of games at their back. We are excited that most of these players had been protected a lot and they don’t have much of a load on their legs,” Mngqithi stated.

“We are hoping we will be able to sustain these football actions, which is why I was demanding a bit more consistency from how we approach the game after we scored the first two goals because I saw we were going back to being sluggish and we were playing to kill time.”

Sundowns will start their Champions League pool phase journey by travelling to Democratic Republic of Congo to face Maniema United on November 26. The Brazilians’ other opponents in Group B are Moroccan giants Raja Casablanca and AS Far.

Meanwhile, Mngqithi was not too pleased with scoring only four goals against Chiefs, feeling they should have netted more. Sundowns host Polokwane City in the league on Wednesday.

“I think our game plan on the day was good. I’d like to thank my fellow coaches, my analysts and everybody that’s surrounding the team. It was a good plan, it came out the right way. The only thing that I still feel uncomfortable about is, I think we could’ve scored a lot of goals,” Mngqithi said.