‘Luckily this team cannot rest for a week without playing,’ said the Sundowns legend.
Former Mamelodi Sundowns midfield maestro Hlompho Kekana says the club can benefit from having no time to rest, after their painful 2-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup semifinals.
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Miguel Cardoso’s Masandawana side must immediately pick themselves up as they take on the might of Al Ahly on Saturday at Loftus Stadium in the first leg of the semifinals of the Caf Champions League.
Sundowns ‘still in a good position’
“When you are playing for Sundowns every match is like a cup final,” Kekana told Sundowns’ Pitchside Podcast.
“Luckily this team cannot rest for a week without playing. You can easily redeem yourself. I believe we are still in a good position to continue with the good season we are having.”
Sundowns, indeed, remain clear at the top of the Betway Premiership, and in with an excellent shout of winning a second ever Champions League title.
Kekana believes that Sundowns will not have too much soul searching to do this week in training too, as his team deserved to take down Chiefs on Sunday.
“I still believe if we played that match again ten times at Loftus, I don’t think that team (Chiefs) would win against us,” said Kekana.
“When we look back the corrections won’t be many. We lost the game through our mistakes.”
Another former Sundowns player, Tiyani Mabunda, also called for the team to bounce back quickly from the Chiefs loss.
‘As quickly as possible’
“It was sad to get a result like that and concede a goal towards the end, when your concentration is supposed to be maximised (Chiefs got their winner with just two minutes left),” said Mabunda.
“We will do better to get out of this as quickly as possible and start preparing for the Champions League.”
The task of beating Al Ahly certainly requires all of Sundowns’ attention.
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Al Ahly have proved themselves the best team on the continent over the years, with 12 Champions League titles to their name. The Red Devils have only failed to make it to the final once in the last eight years, and have won the tournament six times in that same period.
