Sundowns Shalulile

Peter Shalulile of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates as he scores during the 2022 Nedbank Cup last 32 game between Richards Bay and Mamelodi Sundowns at Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban on 04 February 2022 ©Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix

Sundowns ready for hectic schedule as season restarts

Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi fired a warning shot to their rivals following their 4-0 win over Richards Bay in the Nedbank Cup.

Sundowns Shalulile

Peter Shalulile of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates as he scores during the 2022 Nedbank Cup last 32 game between Richards Bay and Mamelodi Sundowns at Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban on 04 February 2022 ©Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi fired a warning shot to their rivals following their 4-0 win over Richards Bay in the Nedbank Cup.

Sundowns face Chippa United in the league before beginning their Champions League group stage campaign next week.

Mamelodi Sundowns ready for hectic schedule

It is going to be a tough February, with a trip to Sudan also on the horizon before they welcome Pitso Mosimane back to Pretoria.

Sundowns are well aware that they face an incredible workload. However, they were delighted to start with a clinical win over a tricky opponent.

He told SuperSport TV: “But at least we’re saying minus one now, it was difficult when it was a lot. Now we’re saying 27 minus, so we have 26, maybe in the next nine days we have another three matches,”.

“So we understand what we’re in for. We have already played 30 matches by the way. Maybe 31 with this one in three months. So the next three months we’re expected to play the next 26 if we were to go to all finals.

“We’re ready for that and we know what’s expected of us.”

Impressive squad gets stronger

The Mamelodi Sundowns coach reserved special praise for Surprise Ralani, who scored on his debut for Kabo Yellow.

“We know what he [Ralani] can offer, we told people what he’s capable of, the quality that he has is unmatched sometimes, technically very good, makes very few mistakes tactically and understands the game very well,” he added.

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“He fits into our style of play because the position that he plays for us is the same position that ‘Mshishi’ [Themba Zwane] plays, it’s the same position as [Thabiso] Kutumela plays, it’s the same position that Neo [Maema] plays.

“And Cape Town City are not playing away from us a lot. They are playing almost the same style of football that we do and he understands what we expect from him.

“I still believe today he could have scored two if he took an extra touch on the chance that he took over the bar.

“We’re happy he smashed the second one, which gave him a little bit more confidence, maybe trust from the supporters and everyone around him.

“Because we believed in him. I must also commend all the coaches for believing in what we’re trying to do because credit must go to coach Rhulani [Mokoena] because we were in the Compact [Cup], Steve [Komphela] had to go home because he was bereaved.

“And he [Mokoena] remained behind, trained the team alone and worked with this group, he really did a good work, we must commend his work.”

Mamelodi Sundowns February fixtures

Monday 7 February vs Chippa United (Home).

Friday 11 February vs Al Hilal (Home).

Monday 14 February vs Baroka FC (Away).

Saturday 19 February vs Al Merrikh (Away).

Friday 25 February vs Al Ahly (Home).

Sunday 27 February vs TS Galaxy (Away).

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