Sundowns, Platinum Stars in crunch African battles

IN his interview with the Tunisian media leading up to this tie, Pitso Mosimane, revealed that his side cannot afford to be too emotional if they are to come out victorious against Esperance de Tunis in tonight’s Caf Champions League clash in Tunis (Kick-off 10pm).

And that’s because Jingles, as Mosimane is affectionately known, knows that failure to do so might see them lose at this crucial stage of their group stage fixtures.

In their first leg meeting against the Tunisian giants, Sundowns were subjected to a 2-1 defeat by a tactically sound Esperance side, a result which saw them drop to third place with four points in Group C after three assignments.

A win would see them get their campaign back on track with two games to go before their group fixtures end.

Mosimane said qualifying for the last eight of this premier continental club cup competition was a must.

“You cannot afford to be too emotional with regards to what’s in front of you,” Mosimane said in that interview which was posted on Sundowns’ Instagram official account.

“You must always look at the bigger picture, and the bigger picture for us is to qualify for the last eight (of this continental competition).

“Hopefully by then, we will have all of our players back (from injury). If we do that (get too emotional) then we are going to lose our plot. Our plot is to (focus) on the whole group and make sure that we qualify for the quarter-final (stages of this competition).”

The good news for Mosimane is that two of his key players who were injured are available for selection. Hlompho Kekana and Anthony Laffor have been declared fit to play.

If they bring their A-game it will help the reigning African champions get their campaign on track by fighting for a win.

Sundowns though, will still be without two centre-backs, Wayne Arendse and Ricardo Nascimento, and Zimbabwean midfielder Khama Billiat for this tie, as the three are still nursing niggling injuries.

Meanwhile, Platinum Stars’ striker Bongi Ntuli said he hopes his side wins when they host CS Sfaxien in their fourth Caf Confederation Cup group tie tonight at Royal Bafokeng Stadium (Kick-off 7pm). The centre-forward knows that failure might lead to them missing out on a spot in the knockout stages of the competition with two more games to go.

Dikwena are bottom of their group with just a point from their three matches.

“Playing in the continent has been an interesting experience for all of us here at the club,” Ntuli said.

“We just want to continue playing here. To do that though, we need to start winning all of our remaining three group matches. If we can do that then I truly believe that we will finish within the top two, when the group fixtures come to an end.”

Ntuli, who was loaned out to Dikwena at the beginning of this past season by Sundowns, said he hasn’t heard anything from his mother club on whether they wanted him back.

However, the 26-year old stocky centre-forward whose loan contract expires at the end of this month, hinted that he wouldn’t mind staying with the Phokeng-based outfit on a permanent basis, now that he has established himself at the club. “I love it here,” Ntuli said. “The intention of coming here was Sundowns wanted me to get a bit of game time and I’ve received more than that. I’ve been a regular feature here compared to the previous season when I first arrived.

“My loan contract expires by the end of this month and I haven’t heard anything as yet from Sundowns. It’s one of those things where I’ll have to wait and see what’ll happen next.”