Johannesburg – Mamelodi Sundowns will host relegation-threatened Marumo Gallants at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tomorrow at 7 pm.
The Brazilians have already sealed the league title heading into this clash, but will be looking to further hamper the strides towards relegation survival made by Bahlane Ba Ntwa in previous matches.
The Limpopo-based outfit showed great resilience to fight back twice to snatch a point against Maritzburg United, a point that saw them deprive a direct opponent of valuable points, but also kept them out of the drop zone.
On the other side of Durban, Sundowns and Lebohang Maboe relinquished their two-goal buffer to share the spoils with AmaZulu on Wednesday.
Maboe made his second start to the 2022/2023 campaign after returning from a knee injury that has kept him out for much of the season. He also grabbed himself an assist in the match.
When questioned about their coming fixture against Gallants, Maboe revealed that striker Ranga Chivaviro, among others, is one of the people they're looking at ahead of their next match.
The 30-year-old forward is having a year to remember and has hit the back of the net 16 times this campaign, with 10 of those strikes coming in the DStv premiership.
“Their strikers have been doing very well... Chivaviro. I saw Lucky Mohomi as well, he’s been coming up with a few assists or second assists. Ngema also has been one of their outstanding players throughout the season, so they’ve got a pretty decent team,” said Maboe.
Sundowns and Gallants are the only two teams still representing the country in continental competitions, having qualified for the semi-finals stage of both the CAF champions league and the Confederation Cup.
Maboe said he respects the level at which Gallants are playing at the moment, and Sundowns will do well to prepare adequately for what is expected to be a competitive match.
“They [Marumo Gallants] have been doing very well in the [CAF] Confed Cup and in the league as well, so they are a very good team, not to be taken lightly. We’ve just drawn a game [against AmaZulu], so we want to redeem ourselves, but we will do our homework and analysis and see what they’ve got to offer.”
The Brazilians are currently in an unfamiliar poor spell in comparison to their usual standards, having won just one of their last six league matches, a record that began after they were crowned champions.
However, the Brazilians will head into this contest with a great degree of confidence, having never lost to Gallants in the four times they've met in all competitions.
@ScribeSmiso
IOL Sport