Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has weighed in on the possibility of facing Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final after the Brazilians lost two domestic cup finals against Jose Riveiro’s charges last season.  

Mngqithi saw his charges succumb to a 1-0 defeat to Stellenbosch FC in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday thanks to Fawaaz Basadien, who made no mistake from 12 yards out.  

This has raised alarm bells amongst the Downs faithful, with the Chloorkop-based outfit scrapping past Polokwane City in the quarterfinals with the aid of an own goal from Thabang Matuludi, scored in extra time.  

This has prompted the former Golden Arrows mentor to be cautious, saying he is not thinking about the final yet, despite his side being touted as one of the favorites to reach the final, citing that his sole focus is to progress to the next stage first.  

“I don’t want to be ahead of myself, I think the most important thing is to prepare for this match [second leg] and go through, win this match,” Mngqithi said when asked about the prospect of facing the Buccaneers in the final.  

“Because when we do that, we will be giving ourselves a chance of getting into another final. I don’t think the finals we lost against Pirates was because they were a better team, we committed silly errors. 

“I wouldn’t want to see the same errors in a final that would be Pirates and Sundowns, but I don’t want to be ahead of myself. At this stage I think the most important thing is to prepare for the same Stellenbosch match and try to overcome the 1-0 lead,” he added.  

Mngqithi, who’s leading the new-look Sundowns technical team has acknowledged that the second-leg clash will be different, as is always the case in two-legged knockout ties, and insists that his charges will also be different for the encounter.  

“The strategy will have to be different, it’s a game where one goal is not enough, and it’s a game I believe we will be a completely different team,” Mngqithi said.  

“Sometimes we need results like these in football if you still have a second chance, because when you’ve been doing well in all the friendlies that you’ve played, sometimes it creates an impression that you are entitled to the results.  

“Immediately after conceding you could see now, we want to get a goal, we are playing and now we know what we want to do. 

“We’ve done this in many instances and we did very well, but you don’t want these situations to be created by you conceding first, you want the team to immediately start the match with that mentality,” he reiterated.  

Sundowns will look to overturn the one-goal deficit when they battle Stellies for a place in the final in the return leg at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday (15h00), with a shortage of venues in Cape Town for Barker’s men to host matches at the moment. 

Article by Trevor Magoro