Downs take their foot off the pedal
THERE was a long pause from Pitso Mosimane in response to being asked what he thinks about the fact that two of the past three CAF Champions League winners didn’t reach the group stage in their title defence. TP Mazembe and Al-ahly, after being crowned African champions in 2015 and 2013, crashed out of the tournament in the last round just before the group stage the following year.
“Is that a statistic?” Mosimane said after finally finding his voice. Sundowns are in danger of becoming part of that statistic after conceding an away goal in their 2-1 win over Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) in the first leg at Lucas Moripe Stadium yesterday.
“I don’t know. I don’t know about stats. I wish I could answer you about stats,” Mosimane said. “You don’t play football on statistics though because sometimes they put you under pressure. They (KCCA) couldn’t deal with our corner kicks and our aerial strength. We had bigger boys than them. We will try to bully them with that in the second leg. We will bring Wayne Arendse back and maybe play (Soumahoro) Bangaly in midfield and then there will be Leo (Leonardo Castro) up front. We will see.”
Sundowns find themselves in this position because they took the Ugandans lightly after going 2-0 up in less than 10 minutes. They thought they would cruise to victory, making their trip to Uganda next week a mere formality. But KCCA stunned them with Geoffrey Sserunkuma’s goal, giving the Ugandans hope of reaching the group stage for the first time in the club’s history. It would be a massive achievement for them, especially at the expense of the reigning African champions.
“We have ourselves to blame,” Mosimane said. “We put ourselves in this position. So we need to take ourselves out of it. We have to fight. We have the experience and the personnel.”
The Brazilians will leave for Kampala on Wednesday, right after taking on Polokwane City at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday in the Premiership. Sundowns will only train once on an artificial pitch in Uganda’s capital to prepare for what they will get at Phillip Omondi Stadium.
“The away goal is very important,” KCCA coach Mike Mutebi said, with Mosimane attentively listening in. “It gives us confidence. We were jittery (in the first seven minutes). The players were over respectful because we are playing the defending champions. As the game grew, they started believing in themselves. We would like to eliminate Sundowns (and advance to the group stage).
Mutebi continued, “But it’s not going to be easy. We were very excited when we drew Sundowns. They have (Denis) Onyango, one of our own. The best player in the continent (who was crowned CAF’S Footballer of the Year – Based in Africa). There is (Khama) Billiat, the runner-up. We were excited that we would be gauging ourselves against the best. It looked like it wasn’t a favourable draw for us. As a team that’s growing, it’s important to challenge yourself against the best. The way Sundowns play, they are the best in Africa and we played well against them which gives us confidence for the second leg.”