Shalulile out to score over 30 goals
THE bad news for Mamelodi Sundowns' next opponents Al-Merrikh of Sudan is that goal-poacher Namibian international Peter Shalulile is hungrier than ever to score goals.
Sundowns will host Al-Merrikh in a Group A Champions League match, at the FNB Stadium tomorrow.
Shalulile currently tops the Premiership's goalscoring list with 15 goals after 23 matches. He has not been as prolific in the Champions League group stage matches and has scored only two goals after five matches.
In the continental competition, he has been overshadowed by teammate Thapelo Morena who has three goals after five Group A matches.
To date, Shalulile has 21 goals in all competitions this season, and last season he also scored more than 20 goals. He has become the first Sundowns player to achieve that feat in consecutive seasons since the 1990's when striker Daniel “Mambush” Mudau terrorised defences in the domestic competition.
“My target is to score 10 more goals (in all competitions) which is possible,” said Shalulile. “I believe with my teammates who are there to help me, it is possible to do it.”
“It has not been an easy journey of reaching such a goal. It is more of journeys that are possible to complete. With the games that remain, I am just aiming for the team to do well as a whole.
“There are certain things that I work on to improve my game. I do extra work and listen to the coaches because they know what they are doing. They are there to teach, and we are there to learn.
“I also watch a lot of clips of football players that play in my position.”
Sundowns have already qualified for the knock-out stage of the Champions League even though they will play their final group phase match tomorrow. Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi said the team will not rest on their laurels.
“For us, it does not mean much that we have already secured our place in the quarter-finals. I think I said it before, our biggest competition is ourselves,” said Mngqithi.
“We have a bigger responsibility to improve or to better our benchmark. Our benchmark is the 13 points that we achieved in the group stage last season. We have a responsibility to better that mark.
“It is very important for us as a club, to minimise the possibility of seeing how stressful it is when you lose a match. We have to try and make sure that we give this match the respect that it deserves.
“We go out there with the mentality to win because that is very important of how we want to finish the season.
“It is now that we are saying in the past two years, we have only three matches. For us is very important to try and make sure that we minimise the possibilities of losing matches.”
Mngqithi said playing in continental competitions was vastly different from the domestic league. A big factor was that teams in the Caf competitions were quick to capitalise on errors.
“One thing that I have learnt, and I don't know whether it's the level of competition or the focus of players in the Champions League, but there's no room for error,” said Mngqithi.
“Last year, we played against Al Ahly in Egypt, and we dominated the match. We played well but made two mistakes which could have been half chances in SA, but those two chances were punished, and we came back with a 2-0 defeat.
“In SA, you make far many mistakes sometimes. You can give an opposition maybe three good chances and they still don't score.”