‘They (Arrows) may not have had consistent performances … but they’re still a dangerous team,’ cautioned the Sundowns head coach.
There are very few games where Mamelodi Sundowns don’t start as overwhelming favourites. The Carling Knockout last 16 clash against Golden Arrows at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday won’t be any different.
Arrows have had a mixed bag of results in the new Betway Premiership after four matches. They started the season with two wins but their last two matches didn’t go according to script with defeats to newly-promoted side Magesi FC and Sekhukhune United.
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Although the Brazilians will be expected to get past Arrows with relative ease, Manqoba Mngqithi is not reading too much into their recent form, with a place in the quarterfinals of the beer cup up for grabs.
“They (Arrows) may not have had consistent performances, just like us, but they’re still a dangerous team on transitions. They’ve had some very good performances this year against Stellenbosch FC, Sekhukhune United and Marumo Gallants,” Mngqithi said.
“They were unfortunate to lose against Magesi FC. The expectations were that Arrows would walk over them but Magesi had to give them that respect and that’s how they ended up losing that match. So it’s not going to be an easy match – if you remember last season, we played them as one of the last matches of the season and we played a draw against them in Durban.”
Mngqithi has identified where the danger is likely to come from against Abafana Besthende while calling on his charges to keep it tight at the back. Sundowns will be looking to avoid a repeat of last season’s disappointment, where they were dumped at this stage of the competition by TS Galaxy.
“They are a team that is very good on transitions and they can hurt you. They have some very good players. (There is Nduduzo) Sibiya and (Menzi) Masuku has joined them and he’s doing very well,” he concluded.
“Knox Mutizwa is evergreen in that team and they’ve got a (Sbonelo) Cele at left back who is always looking to create possibilities going forward. They’ve brought back (Thabani) Zuke in the defence and (Gladwin) Shitolo is doing very well.
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“So it’s a complex game … I see a lot of transitions. We should try our best to make sure we contain the situation – probably with a better counter press, rest defence and a better general organisation behind the ball.”
