Legends give advice
Pitso’s experience will be key Roger Feutmba – Former Sundowns midfielder
“This is going to be a game of high intensity, where both coaches have to make sure that their players try by all means to minimize the errors. Both coaches have all the experience of handling situations of this nature. What Sundowns need to do is to play their normal attacking game because Wydad are going to be very tactical and technical coming to Loftus Stadium. Pitso knows everything about Wydad though and 80 to 90 percent of the team that he has at his disposal has been in these kinds of situations before. They have played Wydad in the quarter-finals before and, unfortunately, they lost that one and they will surely want to win this one. But above all, Pitso’s experience will be key. The danger that Wydad are posing is the aerial balls that Sundowns struggle to deal with sometimes. But having said that, I know Pitso will have something up his sleeve. He is a very good planner and I am pretty sure he is 90 percent done with his planning for this game. I watched how he manipulated his system for the second leg against AlAhly in Egypt. He played a completely different formation and I think his core plan was to have the ball at all times. He surprisingly brought Oupa Manyisa to the starting line-up just to hold up the ball and keep possession. Manyisa can also slow the tempo of the game very well. That is one of his specialties and it takes a good coach like Pitso to recognize such abilities in a player. That tactic worked very well for the team, especially in the first half where Al-Ahly were coming very strongly at Sundowns. I see Pitso winning this one from the bench!”
Pitso has to attack from word go Eric Ramasike – Former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder
“The only thing that our coach needs to do is play an attacking team and attack from the word go. Wydad are coming to us and he shouldn’t be thinking about anything other than attacking Wydad. The mentality from Wydad will be to score an early goal and unsettle us. Or they might want to observe and hit us on the counter, but either way, we need to score an early goal to level the tie and make sure that we don’t concede early. We all know that Pitso is a tactician, but this game will need him to be more ruthless because a Wydad goal here will only mean that we will have to score three. The only thing for Pitso to stop that is to attack them and unsettle them with goals in the first 10 minutes. The team that played Al-Ahly did that very well, so Pitso is capable of doing that. This is the game that we can win. I mean, even in Morocco we were just unlucky not to come out with a draw at the very least, but that’s football for you. Pitso has the likes of Phakamani Mahlambi, Lebohang Maboe and Themba Zwane who can unsettle any defence and that is what he must use against Wydad. After scoring early, Wydad will have no choice but to open up to go in search of goals of their own and that is where they will be vulnerable to Sundowns’ attacks. This should be an all-out attack for Sundowns because we are trailing and we are playing at home. I know that Pitso will not let it slip.”
What we can expect to see Matthew Booth – Former Sundowns defender
“I think that Pitso’s approach whether he plays home or away is very similar and that is one thing that has been a secret to his success. He hasn’t played necessarily defensive football per se. For me, the team has been very consistent in its make-up, but what that signals to me is that he is slightly more defensive when he plays away and who he plays as fullbacks. His approach will depend on who he plays at left and right back. They will be psychologically going into this one on the front foot and I think that this is a good scenario for Sundowns as they need to get at least one goal to seal the deal. I honestly feel this is a good situation for them, although they have shown a little bit of tiredness in patches in their league games, but I’m sure they have had a bit of a break as the league has given them some leeway this week as they head into this weekend’s game. All in all, I know that the technical team and the players will be going out guns blazing and we all are aware of what a switched-on Downs team can produce. What we can expect to see is a good game of football played on their home turf and in front of their supporters who will be coming through in their numbers like they have been doing. Wydad will have to come prepared to take on Sundowns and probably the rest of the country.”
Make them feel the heat John Tlale – Former Sundowns goalkeeper
“Playing at home, Sundowns will want to go all out and attack. They need to score goals and they can do that playing at home. They must make sure that they are tight at the back so that they don’t concede any goals because that will make their job harder. They must put their opponents under pressure and make them feel the heat so that they don’t have a chance to play their normal game. Pitso is a great coach and he will have a good plan for this game as they do have an advantage of the one goal in the bag and playing at home is going to be a key factor to help them win this one. I really don’t see Wydad coming here and walking away with a win, not when there will be thousands of supporters backing Sundowns at the stadium. Believe me when I say that we will see this Downs team in the final of the CAF Champions League. They have shown that they are capable of winning that second star. Yes, there have been some questions when it comes to their recent performances, but they are only human and they will be getting tired here and there, but what has kept them running is their willingness to win and that is something that has been planted into them by their coach, who is always going out for a win in every game. I am proud of the way this team has carried themselves and I predict a win. All the best to the club.”