ON the face of it, the result of a clash involving Polokwane City and Mamelodi Sundowns should be a foregone conclusion.
Such is the disparity between the two sides in terms of quality, strength in depth and standing in the local game that you are never going to find any punter making City favourites.
Yet as he looked ahead to their trip up to the Limpopo capital for a Betway Premiership tussle with Rise and Shine, Sundowns Coach Manqoba Mngqithi sounded caution to anyone thinking the Brazilians are going for the equivalent of a Sunday morning stroll in the park.
“Polokwane City is a very complicated team. They have a lot of man-to-man marking. It’s not gonna be easy,” he warned of their 3.30pm clash at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium “They are a team that works hard off the ball and they have influential players in Chauke, (Oswin) Appollis, (Thabang) Matuludi and that makes them a team that you have to be wary of when you come against them.”
To that effect Mngqithi, who was speaking after they’d beaten Royal AM 2-1 on Wednesday, had plans to prepare thoroughly for a team they could only beat in extra time of their MTN8 quarter final clash at the beginning of the season.
“I think with the time we have we will try to figure out what we need to do and we will have a very strong team to play against them. We are hoping to come back with the three points.”
To ensure that happens, Mngqithi would have worked at tightening up his team’s defence after they allowed Royal AM to find their net midweek.
“I was very unhappy with the goal we conceded. The centre-back was allowed to go for the ball alone and Bathusi Aubaas had come on because we wanted to match their height. It was irritating to concede that goal and there was also a free header that could have easily forced the game into a draw. Also the amount of crosses we allowed into the box was unheard of.”
Cue a number of changes to the line-up that will take to the field this afternoon compared to the one that started against Royal AM.
“We believe with the group that we have, we can always compete with any team that we meet.”
The big competition for Sundowns this season is clearly Orlando Pirates who are top of the table with five wins from five matches and going into their fifth clash the defending champions cannot afford any slip ups in Polokwane this afternoon.
“I said from the beginning that for me they are the team that is going to be really pushing us. I hope and pray they have the depth to carry them through the group stages (of the CAF Champions League) and the (domestic) league because that’s where the separation will take place. They are a very good team and they tried to rotate their squad but it did not work (in the Carling Knockout match against Magesi FC which they lost). They do not do very well against small teams, so far they have done well but let’s wait and see because that’s where the championship will be decided.”
What Mngqithi and his team cannot afford though is to slip up against Polokwane this afternoon and have Pirates take sole leadership of the table.