Pitso holds thumbs his players return fit and well

Pitso Mosimane is holding thumbs that his Mamelodi Sundowns players will not come back injured from national duty.

Themba Zwane, Hlompho Kekana, Tiyani Mabunda (right), Motjeka Madisha and Lebogang Maboe are the handful of

Masandawana players who are part of Stuart Baxter’s Bafana Bafana squad to face Nigeria in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier tomorrow at the FNB Stadium.

It’s Kekana and Mabunda who Mosimane is particularly most concerned about as he has just lost Andile Jali to a hamstring injury and is already without Sibusiso Vilakazi, who got injured playing for Bafana last month.

“Anything can happen there and you must understand that if anything happens I don’t have a central midfield,” said Mosimane.

“See how we lost “Vila” with the national team and we haven’t seen Anthony Laffor play because he is still injured from the previous international week, but what can we do? Bafana have to win,” added Mosimane. He insisted that regardless of the possibility of injuries, Bafana and Baxter have his full backing.

“We have to support the national team. Bafana have to go to Cameroon. The five (Sundowns) players who are there have to help and they must play full-on,” he added.

Masandawana remain unbeaten this season in the Absa Premiership, having played fewer games than leaders Orlando Pirates. Mosimane is happy to be within touching distance of the pacesetters and he insists he knows when to take the lead.

“We are not playing for the record of not losing. We are trying to win the championship – as much as Pirates believe they are going to win the title. We know how to win it, we have the experience to win the championship. We know it will take some time,” said Mosimane.

“We know when it is going to open up. It is like the Comrades Marathon. Someone can take the lead and we sit behind and we wait and when the time comes we make sure we don’t surrender the lead,” he added.