‘City might win league ... Why not?’
THE FIRE alarm at Athlone Stadium went off as Pitso Mosimane tried to make sense of Mamelodi Sundowns’ loss to Cape Town City, which saw them relinquish their No. 1 position to Orlando Pirates. It was a false alarm. There was no danger, just like Mosimane insists there is no danger in the Tshwane side’s camp where there are no bells going off.
They are only behind Orlando Pirates due to the Soweto side’s superior goal-difference as both teams are on 40 points. Sundowns, however, have a game in hand. The Brazilians are also in a better position than Pirates in the CAF Champions League. Mosimane’s team are joint-leaders with Wydad Casablanca, tied on seven points and occupying the top two positions that guarantee progress to the knockout stage.
Pirates have work to do as they’re two points adrift of the top two teams in Group B. Sundowns and Pirates will fly the country’s flag in the Champions League this weekend, as Pirates host Zimbabwe’s FC Platinum on Friday and Sundowns take on Nigeria’s Lobi Stars in Pretoria the following day.
“It’ll be the same team, same group of players (we used against City) that we will use against Lobi,” Mosimane said. “We don’t change a lot. It’s a wafa-wafa (do or die). It’s bigger than this one (against City). We still have eight games. We’re going there. No one is going to win eight games in a row among the teams competing with us. City might win the league also. Why not?
“But we have a bigger game. It’s a national agenda that one. It puts a star on top of the badge. It’s the big one.”
Mosimane doesn’t think he has much work to do to get the players to bounce back from their loss to City and focus on getting maximum points against the Nigerians, who beat them in their opening match of the group stage.
“They’re experienced,” Mosimane said. “They know they have to turn up the volume on Saturday. It’s a different game. The Nigerians are going to sit in like the way (Bloemfontein) Celtic parked the bus. They are going to do that. We have to guide against counter-attacks.
“But once you score, it becomes a different game. It’s a big one. If you win this one, you don’t have to win in Wydad to go through. I am not happy with this result against City, but we’re on top of the log in the Champions League. What else do you want? Unless you want to tell me about the Telkom Knockout.”
Mosimane was surprisingly in a cheerful mood despite the loss to City. He praised his team’s performance but bemoaned them not taking their chances. When asked about the league race, he responded with his tongue firmly in cheek.
“I’ll take a page from Pirates’ script (from last season). They talked a good game, ‘We aren’t focused on the league, we’re taking it game by game (they said)’. I am going to start talking that talk now,” he said.