Can Pitso keep his promise?
Sundowns coach asks more from his players
“WE can seal it at home,” a bullish Pitso Mosimane said after Mamelodi Sundowns played to a goalless draw with Al-Ahly Benghazi in Cairo on Sunday in the first leg of their CAF Champions League first round tie.
The Libyan side plays their games in Egypt due to the political turmoil in their country. The driving force for their players, who make the bulk of their national team which will face Bafana Bafana in March, is to be a beacon of hope for their troubled country. Sundowns on the other hand are South Africa’s flag-bearers, and are looking to extend their good run in the competition by reaching the group stage for a fourth year in a row.For Sundowns to continue making history, they must beat the Libyan side at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. A draw with goals will take Al-Ahly to the group stage and give Libyans something to smile about.
Sundowns were without the injured Themba Zwane, Ricardo Nascimento and Denis Onyango in the goalless draw in Cairo. But that wasn’t an issue for the man known as Jingles.
“We have the team (to compete),” Mosimane said. “We can’t be complaining about injuries. Football is a professional sport with injuries. Kennedy (Mweene) did well. The back five, including Kennedy, did well. We never showed them an opportunity to score. We have a few injuries, but we shouldn’t use that as an excuse. We had enough ammunition to win. I am happy with Phaka (Phakamani Mahlambi), he played well. He is coming up slowly. JB (Jeremy Brockie) is working hard, helping him (Mahlambi). We just need to work on our finishing. I think that we will win at home.”
Mosimane didn’t return with Sundowns, but flew to Morroco yesterday and went straight to class in his studies towards a CAF Pro License. He will spend three days in Morocco before returning home to try and finish off Al-Ahly, and book a place in the group stage.
“I think that we started very well (in the first leg),” Mosimane said. “We just suffered from the usual problems, not taking the chances we got. Lebo (Maboe) got a chance in the first five minutes and the ball fell on his left foot. I think he could have done better to finish that move. We had a few balls inside the box that we didn’t connect well with. But the most important moments came when we had the ball on the edge of their box and were trying to pass to our strikers. But we were passing the ball too long or too short, not precise enough.
Mosimane continued, “We had the chances. But we aren’t unhappy with the performance, we’re just not happy with the result. I think that we can do better at home. We can seal it at home. The defence played well. We were not really under threat. It was a good game that we controlled but we didn’t kill the game like we should have.”