Johannesburg — Mamelodi Sundowns’ desire to claim another CAF Champions League crown remains intact. But that they've recently made signings to help them in that regard, doesn’t mean they will have sleepless nights if they come short this term.
After winning the last four league titles in succession, the Brazilians have proven to be no match for their local rivals. And that’s why they’ve relatively set their sights on conquering the continent again, having achieved that feat in 2016.
But with African being a juggle, where only the fittest survive, Sundowns once again raided the market in January, locally and abroad. At home, they tied down the most prized player Teboho Mokoena and the experienced Surprise Ralani.
And there was business for them in South America once more as they signed Bolivian international Erwin Saavedra. All three players were registered for African football with the hope that they’ll help the team to reach the ‘Promised Land’.
But co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi is not naïve, though, thinking that they’ll just claim the continental since they’ve made these new acquisitions. Instead, he emphasised the importance of going pound-for-pound with their continental rivals.
“We are looking at our competitors in the Champions League and we are trying the best we can to get the team to that level. We want to make sure that we are at a state where we compete at almost the same level as them,” he said.
“We all have one mentality which is to win the Champions League. All these years, even when we didn’t win it, our plan was to win it. That’s why we are fighting to be in it every season. Signing is always influenced by trying to be better.
“We are hoping to get there. I would not regard not winning the Champions League as a failure (from us). But it’s something that I wouldn’t want to experience. We’d all love to see Sundowns winning the Champions League (once again).”
Mokoena and Ralani have hit the ground running at the club, scoring in their first cup and league match respectively - while Saavedra landed in the country on Tuesday afternoon. And that's why Mngqithi says the trio will make great additions.
There are few margins that separate domestic and continental football. And one of those is comfortability. But unfortunately, the Brazilians will be a little bit deprived of that when they begin their group stage matches against Al Hilal tomorrow.
Sundowns have been forced to host Al Hilal at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace after their home grounds, Loftus Versfeld, Lucas Masterpieces and Tuks, were deemed ineligible to host matches by CAF during the evaluation process
“Yes, it might be a little bit of a disadvantage. But if it’s a disadvantage for us then it should be worse for people who are coming from outside,” Mngqithi said. “But the quality of the pitch is good, which is why we’ll go there early to prepare.”
Mngqithi know that they will have to grind out the results against Al Hilal who mostly have players that play for the national team. The Sudanese, moreover, know the Brazilians well, having the teams met in the group stage last term as well.
After Sundowns ran superior over them, Al Hilal will be eager to change the script this year. They’ve been camping in Cape Town since mid-January, while they’ve signed Gerard Phiri Jnr and Abdul Ajugun who both played in the local top-tier.
IOL Sport