Modise sets eyes on big prize

TEKO Modise would not have wanted his career to take a different path to the one is he currently on.

At 33, Modise is heading towards the end of his career and he can one day tell his grandchildren about how he and his Mamelodi Sundowns teammates held the honour of being domestic and continental champions in 2016.

That, of course, is if Sundowns finish off Zamalek in the CAF Champions League second leg final at Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria tonight. Sundowns take a 3-0 lead into the highly anticipated match and need to play with guts and guile to ensure they come back to South Africa on Tuesday as African champions. I appreciate where I am now “and I believe everything has its own time. For me to be in this position justifies the hardships that I had,” said Modise. This is an opportunity for “everyone. We don t know if the

’ younger ones who will come here in future will have the same opportunity that we have. So we need to take it, because we do not know [what the future holds]. We ve worked for it and “’ we need to be proud of it,” said the central midfielder. He added: This is the

“biggest game for me at club level. I have never been in this position before and there s a big opportunity for me

’ and Mamelodi Sundowns as well. The last time the team was in the final was a long time ago [in 2001]. We are in a position to make history, so we need to do what we need to do.”

The debate about which is the greatest Sundowns team has been going on for a few weeks now, but the current generation would surely be up the as the best if they win the Champions League tonight. Maybe it might sound “disrespectful to other guys, but honestly we just want to win it and hopefully we will be counted as such (the greatest generation). They tried it before, but they never won it, so they paved the way for us. So we do not want to disrespect (the class of 2001).”

Modise is not intimidated by Zamalek s success in

’ this competition, with five titles to their name. He is wary of the White Knights, but has warned that Sundowns would not sit back and protect their 3-0 lead. We need to at least get one goal “and play our normal game. We need to play attacking football, that s the

’ best way to defend. We just hope everybody will have calm nerves on Sunday to score the goals.”

Sundowns arrived in Alexandria on Thursday and were denied a training pitch on arrival. But they have not let any of the off-the-field antics get to them.

All Sundowns are worried about is making history.