1 month ago
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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi is wary of the threat posed by highly unpredictable Polokwane City when they meet during their MTN8 quarterfinal clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.
City surpassed all expectations last season to make it to the top eight and Mngqithi rates their visitors as a team that are difficult to overcome because of their style of play.
“In their last five matches of last season, they did not lose because of their style of play. Sometimes they go man to man, sometimes there is always an extra player, sometimes there is a line of five or six players at the back in trying to make sure that they don’t concede,” said Mngqithi, adding that they must have good plans if they want to make it to the semifinals and join Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch who have already qualified.
“So, we must come up with a plan to make sure that we break the game down as quickly as possible.”
Mngqithi said the fact they are favourites to win the match is going to make it difficult for them.
“I always say the most difficult matches in football are the ones where everybody expects you to win because you cannot afford to falter. These games need a lot of intrinsic motivation because if the players don’t understand the value of winning such matches and go to the next round, they don’t deserve to be in an environment like this.
“But we understand the complexities of playing a game like this one, we played to a draw with them last year.”
Mngqithi said he is happy with the work they did during preseason which included a camp in Austria.
“They are many aspects of the game that we have tried to improve on, we also looked at our previous match with them to correct areas we felt we didn’t do well. We are hopeful because the group has been good over the last four preseason matches.
“We were able to score 13 goals against very strong teams during preseason and we only conceded two penalties which is a good sign.”
Before the Brazilians take on Polokwane, Sekhukhune United host Cape Town City in the other quarterfinal match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon in what promises to be a fiery encounter.
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