Wafa wafa: Jali, Erasmus in the spotlight
ANDILE ‘Gattuso’ Jali and Kermit ‘Romeo’ Erasmus are going up against their former clubs and both players have the capacity to make a telling impact on the Mamelodi Sundowns vs Orlando Pirates clash at the Peter Mokaba Stadium today (kick-off 3.30pm).
The occasion will be the second leg MTN8 semi-final. The first leg ended in a goalless stalemate.
Pirates warmed up for the match with a 2-0 win over Golden Arrows, and the performance marked the return to form of Erasmus, the former Sundowns marksman. Erasmus engineered both Pirates’ goals.
He played against Sundowns as a substitute in the first leg, and he was hardly on the field when he threatened a score. His effort was blocked on the goal line by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams’ defence. This time he is likely to be in the run-on XI.
The other Pirates player on everyone’s lips is Monnapule Saleng, a right winger who struck up an understanding with Erasmus in the midweek game against Arrows. Instead of looking to pull the trigger in front of goal, Erasmus fed Saleng after he had drawn the defence out of position.
Jali, the former Pirates star midfielder, will be a key player in the Sundowns line-up. He didn’t do well in the first leg but with so much at stake, Jali could rise to the occasion.
In front of Jali, Sundowns have Marcelo Allende, the 23-year-old Chilean who showed huge promise in his first two matches. He has gone off the boil of late as opposition teams have marked him closely.
Today’s stage may just bring the best out of him and he could prove to be a potent force in the striking zone.
Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi noted Pirates’ improvement and he expects a titanic battle.
“I must say that we are playing a very tough match against a team that has improved in leaps and bounds and a team that has made sure that we don’t score a goal in their backyard, which makes this assignment a little bit of a tough one for both teams,” said Mngqithi.
“Every match that we play we always go into that match with the mentality to win, in this space it
doesn’t matter whether we concede or what happens, but if at the end of the game we’ve scored more than the opposition that is the most important thing because we always want to win the match.
“When we did not win in Orlando we did not feel good. Had we had a 1-1 draw or a 2-2 draw we would still
not feel good.
“We go into every match with one thing in mind [which is] to try and make sure that we dominate the pitch, we dominate the ball and all the metrics that we think can always help in making sure that the outcome of the game is under your control and not dependant on what other people do.
“I like to play big matches. Playing big matches makes you dig deeper. You have to become more meticulous in what makes a team and respect what they have. We play good football, and so do Pirates. These type of matches are exactly what I like because you never know what the outcome will be.”