Pitso sees home form as the key
● Collecting maximum points at home in their three 2018-19 Caf Champions League Group A matches is what Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane will be going for when Africa’s premier club competition resumes in the middle of next month.
“I guess the draw is not easy and not difficult, to be honest. I think it’s fair,” said Mosimane, the winner of the 2016 edition with Sundowns.
He was speaking after the competition’s group-phase draw in Cairo on Friday. Sundowns were pitted against Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosas, Nigeria’s Lobi Stars and familiar foes and 2017 winners Wydad Casablanca of Morocco.
Mosimane’s side will be meeting Wydad for the third time in successive years.
“You know the theme of Champions League... If you win at home and you make sure that out of the three games away you at least get two draws, it’s a guaranteed qualification.
“So the best thing is to win at home. We will be playing our last away game against Wydad [March 1517]. So you don’t want to get one re- sult in your last match against Wydad to qualify. You got to do what you have to do as early as possible.”
The Sundowns coach admitted that Stars and Mimosas were a bit of a closed book to them, meaning they will have to dig deep to get more information on their character.
“I don’t see much of Nigerian football these days, so we will have to find footage of Lobi Stars,” said Mosimane of the team they will open their account against on the weekend of January 11-13.
Orlando Pirates were also handed a tough draw against Platinum FC of Zimbabwe, reining champions Esperance of Tunisia and Horoya FC of Guinea in Group B, but Bucs coach Milutin Sredojevic said it was possible to go through to the knockout phase.
“We need to approach our first match away to Platinum with a lot of caution while trying to get a result,” said the Serbian-born coach.
“Horoya are former semifinalists and they won’t be easy, especially away. Our target is to be one of the two teams finishing on top of our group. We are confident that this is achievable.”
Kaizer Chiefs were drawn against Zambian giants Zesco United in the last 32 of the Caf Confederation Cup. Amakhosi will be away in Lusaka in the first leg.