Johannesburg — Mamelodi Sundowns’ co-coach Rulani Mokwena says their CAF Champions League quarter-final opponents Petro de Luanda will be tough customers, given that the two teams have an identical style of play.
The Brazilians are in the last-eight of the continental showpiece after breezing through the group stage where they won five games and drew one to finish with the most points (16) across all the four groups.
But they’ll know that the knockout stage is usually the most challenging phase of the competition, given that lapse of concentration and errors are usually punished over the two-legged contest.
Last season, they learnt that the hard way as they crashed out at this part of competition against eventual champions Al Ahly albeit being the better team over the two matches.
ALSO READ: WATCH: How Mamelodi Sundowns’ Reyaad Pieterse maintains peak performance during Ramadan
But Sundowns will be wary of falling into the same trap against the Angolans who finished second in Group D.
The last time these two teams met was in the group stage three seasons ago where Sundowns won 3-0 at home before they drew 2-all in Luanda.
However, a lot has changed since then. Sundowns are coached by the three wise men, Mokwena, Manqoba Mngqithi and Steve Komphela. The trio will be eager to get their first win in Angola in the first leg of the quarter-final this afternoon.
“They are a strong team, a very good opponent, that plays the game the way we believe football should be played and in a certain way that has a very similar identity to us,” Mokwena said ahead of the clash at Estadio 11 de Novembro.
“They build from the back and look to press from the top. They look to dominate the game and have possession so we know what’s at stake and what lies ahead.”
Albeit the two teams sitting at the top of their respective leagues, the Brazilians will be wearing the favourites’ cap. They are at the back of two domestic games where they scored a whooping 11 unanswered goals.
ALSO READ: CAF Champions League quarter-finals: Five things to know
But it was in their 6-0 drubbing of Golden Arrows, which resulted in the sacking of coach Lehlohonolo Seema, in the league on Tuesday afternoon that Mokwena says they’ll draw a lot of confidence from.
“In particular, the game against Golden Arrows was a good demonstration of how much work we’ve put in from the beginning of the season until now. So, from that perspective we come into this game with a lot of confidence,” Mokwena said.
Sundowns have been so good this season that they are on course to win a quadruple.
They are two wins away from winning the title, in the Champions League quarter-final and Nedbank Cup semi-final where they’ll face Royal AM, while they've already won the MTN8.
And that’s why Mokwena says they know it’s crunch time and can’t afford to put the foot off the pedal.
“The players understand that we are in a part of the season where every match counts now. These are what we call ‘games of consequence’,” Mokwena said.
“I labelled them as games of consequence a little bit earlier and coming into the second round, we understand that everybody is playing for something and all the fixtures have some form of determination: be it domestically or continentally.”