Johannesburg - Memelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has won all there is to win in domestic football.
With Sundowns running for three titles – the Absa Premiership, the Nedbank Cup and the CAF Champions League, the latter is the one Mosimane wants the most since he has had his hands on all the trophies in the PSL while coaching SuperSport United and the Brazilians.
Mosimane’s dream for African glory depends on what Sundowns do when they host Democratic Republic of Congo’s AS Vita Club in the second leg of the CAF Champions League prelim at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville tonight.Sundowns are trailing Vita 1-0 after conceding a last minute goal in Kinshasa a week ago.
Sundowns have it all to do as anything less than victory without conceding a crucial away goal, will see their African dream go up in smoke. Sundowns captain Ramahlwe Mphahlele, pictured, says the six time PSL champions are aware of the task at hand and will spare no weapon in their quest to progress to the group stages.
“We want to win. We want to go to the group stages. We are not going to sit back. From the first whistle, we are going to have a go at them. We know how they play and we know their weaknesses. From the first whistle, we have to have a go at them and believe me they will crack. They can not park the bus for 90 minutes.
There’s no way we are going to take it easy because this is the last hurdle. We have to give it everything that we have. From there we concentrate on other competitions,” said Mphahlele.”The first 20 minutes are going to be critical for us in terms of getting one goal and unsettling them. We cannot be naïve, we have to be smart. We have to attack.
As much as we are attacking, we have to be smart and make sure that we don’t concede goals. “The thing we have to do is to get a goal. They have good players who are very skilful so we are going to have a go at them.
“We will attack Vita and we will give them a run for their money.”Though Vita are expected to park the bus, they are an attacking team that is likely to cause Sundowns major problems.
Mphahlele and his fellow defenders will have to be on alert if they are to make it to the next round. It’s not the first time that Sundowns find themselves in such a situation. Previously, they trailed Zimbabwe’s Chicken Inn by the same margin. However, they managed to overturn the deficit. Mphahlele is adamant Downs will do it again.
“Technically, Chicken Inn are better than Vita. But Vita have experience in the Champions League. They know how to win games. It’s going to be difficult but if we really want to go to the group stages, we have to forget about Orlando Pirates and give 90 mintues to Vita,” said Mphahlele, whose side will face Pirates in the Nedbank Cup a few days later.
“This is exciting for us because we are playing big games. It’s better to be in these competitions than to be in just one competition or fighting relegation. It’s exciting. “It’s a good experience for us and we are going to keep going.”
The Star