Downs facing a tricky weekend
HAVE TO WORK AROUND POOR TRAINING FACILITIES
Mamelodi Sundowns are not entirely happy with the training facilities that they were given in Sudan, after they arrived in Khartoum on Thursday.
They are set to take on Al-Hilal Omdurman in the penultimate match of their Caf Champions League Group A campaign today.
There is not too much reason to be concerned for the Tshwane giants, however, as they have already qualified for the quarterfinals.
Downs have collected 10 points from four games, sitting comfortably six points clear of reigning champions Al-Ahly at the top of Group A.
“It is not the best of facilities but we expected that. We got a community field within the organisation but it is okay. We have to do the best with what we have,” said Downs co-head coach Rulani Mokwena.
Masandawana took a relatively large squad to Sudan, as some players have injury concerns.
Andile Jali, for one, forced the hand of his coaches to withdraw him last time out when they beat Ahly 1-0 at FNB Stadium, though his issue is not a serious one.
Fellow co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi revealed that it could have been sorted during the game, but the referees would not afford Sundowns doctors to intervene and re-align his meniscus.
Mokwena says the injuries are a concern, which is why it was the first thing they attended to when they touched down in Sudan.
“The first thing we did was work on our activation and injury prevention methods. What that means is that we activate the major muscles in individual players because with long traveling and all the other aspects, we have the possibility of injury issues,” he said.
“But we have to wake them up and wake up the muscles and try to prepare from a physiological perspective for the match,” said Mokwena, who went on to suggest that their opponents will be tricky, given their ability to switch playing systems.
“They need a win and what we noticed is that they changed the structure against Al-Merreikh, they played a different formation and they had two strikers up top as opposed to their usual 4-2-3-1 formation.
“We have done our work and analysed their last four matches since they played us,” said the Downs mentor.
“They are a very interesting team with some good players, some of which are familiar faces and also well-coached.”