Downs gone to school on TP Mazembe

Mamelodi Sundowns have always had the upper-hand in meetings with Democratic Republic of Congo giants TP Mazembe, who they have beaten on four occasions in Caf competitions, with the most recent meeting in 2017, when Downs beat Mazembe 1-0 in the Caf Super Cup in Pretoria.

Masandawana look like the favourites again this time around as they are in Lubumbashi to take on The Ravens in the third round of Group B action in the Caf Champions League tomorrow.

Sundowns, who top the group with two wins out of two, have not dwelled much on Mazembe’s shortcomings in the competition so far – the Congolese giants have failed to hit the back of the net in goalless draws with Al-Hilal and CF Belouizdad.

Instead, Sundowns are focusing more on stretching their 21game unbeaten run in all competitions – they last lost a match in October last year in a MTN8 tie against eventual finalists Bloemfontein Celtic.

The Brazilians, however, do claim to have done their due diligence on the five-time African champions as they have spent about a week in the DRC, plotting how to face Mihayo Kazembe’s side.

“They are an interesting team and they are very strong defensively. We watched a few of their matches. They played the Congolese derby, they played Al-Hilal and Belouizdad,” said Bafana Ba Style’s co-head coach Rulani Mokwena (left).

“In relation to what we have seen, we now know...they usually play a 4-4-1-1 formation but we still have to make sure that we are ready for a team with really complex personalities and prone to being aggressive, They press very high, but can also be very conservative, but play counter-attacking football with very fast players,” said Mokwena.