Sundowns are ready for title fight

Pitso Mosimane, Coach of Mamelodi Sundowns of Mamelodi Sundowns during the Nedbank Cup Final Football Match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Ajax Cape Town at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth on 16 May 2015 ©Chris Ricco/BackpagePix

Pitso Mosimane, Coach of Mamelodi Sundowns of Mamelodi Sundowns during the Nedbank Cup Final Football Match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Ajax Cape Town at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth on 16 May 2015 ©Chris Ricco/BackpagePix

Published Oct 5, 2015

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Absa Premiership teams beware, the sleeping giant that is Mamelodi Sundowns has awoken and the man in charge is egging it on to devour everything in its path.

Following a stuttering start to the season, Sundowns have seemingly found their footing and Pitso Mosimane is convinced things can only get better from here.

“We need to keep our feet on the ground, we need to keep going,” Mosimane said after Sundowns registered a third win in a row via a 2-0 Telkom Knockout first round defeat of Chippa United on Saturday night.

“I spoke to the guys. When we played Ajax (Cape Town) I asked them (the players): Do you think can we beat Ajax? They said yes. Can we beat Chippa? Can we beat Polokwane (City)? Can we beat Bloemfontein Celtic? I think we are capable hey. Not to brag or what but we have the possibility of winning those. So we need to focus and keep going.

“Big teams like Real Madrid and Bayern (Munich) can go six, seven or eight even 10 or 12 matches in a row. We need to start believing we can do that and go back to our 2013/2014 season here we went 10 games straight.”

And on the strength of the three successive wins – over Ajax, Jomo Cosmos and Chippa – there’s every reason to foresee Sundowns climbing up the ladder to their rightful place among the championship challengers.

Saturday night’s win in particular was achieved via a workmanlike performance that saw them keep to the game plan and continuously knock their way to goal against a stubborn Chippa side that looked like they could take them all the way.

Keegan Dolly opened the scoring just after the hour mark for his third goal in two matches and then Hlompho Kekana sealed the victory with a deflected strike three minutes from time.

Chippa had been reduced to 10 men after Sundowns went 1-0 up when Thamsanqa Sangweni received his marching orders for a second bookable offence.

And Mosimane expressed pleasure at many aspects of the game.

“This was our second game we kept zero at the back, Wayne Arendse is fighting for his position at the back. He’s the most underrated player and he is claiming his position.

“And it’s good we scored goals. I am happy Keegan is scoring. I told him that the wingers must not only cross but they have to score too. And Themba did very well but he needs to score. But I’m waiting for my strikers top score hey.”

Having been under fire from the club’s supporters only a fortnight ago, Mosimane was pleased the home fans were behind the club this time.

“The good thing now is that our people our behind us. We saw them at Olen Park (against Cosmos), they were behind us and even here. As long as they keep singing, it releases the stress and the pressure off the players. And the goals are coming.”

And that spells bad news for the rest of the Premiership sides. - The Star

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