Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi clarified his decision to leave Teboho Mokoena and Khuliso Mudau from the starting lineup against SuperSport United at Loftus Stadium on Tuesday night.

The duo, key figures in Sundowns’ recent success, had played both matches for Bafana Bafana in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which was highlighted by Mngqithi as the reason.

Mngqithi added that he wanted to avoid disrupting the team’s momentum after a dominant performance against Mbabane Swallows in the CAF Champions League first leg second preliminary round on Saturday.

While the decision raised eyebrows, Mngqithi emphasized that Mokoena and Mudau remain integral parts of the team.

“They are still going to come and help us. But after the game of Mbabane, it was very difficult for us to change that team that much because we achieved far more than any other games and one would say it was Mbabane anyway,” explained Mngqithi.  

“But we’ve played a lot of these preliminary games before but we’ve never achieved 855 passes, 750-something passes completed, the highest xG probably in the last 170 matches, the number of shots on goals and I think it was 21, and 11 of those were on target, the goalkeeper in my opinion also should’ve gotten the Man of the Match award. 

“But unfortunately, when you win like that and you’re resting some players because of the load they had, coming all the way from South Sudan and you’re saying they’ve played two 90 minutes because both of them played two 90 minutes, then when you go to SuperSport to say, ‘no, let’s continue’. 

“Because sometimes it’s also important to show those players (who aren’t playing much) that we have confidence in them. We are not just using them in the absence of certain players and that culture will happen a lot this season, considering that we’ve got so many competitions.  

“And it’s important that we make sure we keep everybody hungry and interested, that’s very important.” 

Sundowns’ decision to rest Mokoena and Mudau paid off as they secured a 2-0 victory over Gavin Hunt’s men with goals by Iqraan Rayners and Lucas Ribeiro Costa, taking the top spot in the Betway Premiership. Their next match is against Swallows in the second leg of the CAF Champions League at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday (18:00).