Pitso bullish on Esperance

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane (below) is targeting four points out of six from Tunisian side Esperance in the Caf Champions League group stages.

The defending champions welcome Esperance to the Lucas Moripe Stadium tonight, where Mosimane is optimistic about opening a three-point lead over the Tunisian giants at the top of Group C. The sides are level at the top of the group on four points, with Sundowns making up for an opening home draw with St George by beating AS Vita 3-1 in Kinshasa in their last outing.

“We can win, and when we do, we create that three-point gap. If we can get four out of six against Esperance, you know what is going to happen? The other teams are going to cancel each other out,” said Mosimane.

Mosimane reckons the other Group C members will find the going tougher in Kinshasa than the Brazilians did.

“We came back from Kinshasa where we scored three goals. It means the team has matured and they know how to play in the Champions League. It is important to win at home against Esperance and stay at the top of the log because for Esperance to go to Kinshasa and win, and also for Saint George to go to Kinshasa and win is not going to be easy, so we have to box cleverly,” added the Sundowns coach.

The Brazilians have been hit by a number of injuries, mainly because of the amount of games they have played over the past 18 months. Anthony Laffor, Khama Billiat and Hlompho Kekana have all been ruled out of the game. However, Mosimane is confident he can field a team strong enough to beat the Tunisians.

“We’ve lost so many players, but that is the beauty of football, you get everybody playing. We know why we get injuries, we can’t play for two years in a row … we will have all these injuries,” lamented Mosimane.