Sundowns coach Mokwena wary of ‘difficult’ Maritzburg
"They are a good team with PSL experience," says the Sundowns coach.
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach, Rulani Mokwena during the Nedbank Cup press conference at the Nedbank Cup Ya Rona House in Johannesburg on Wednesday. (Nokwanda Zondi/BackpagePix)
Ahead of Sunday’s Nedbank Cup last-16 clash against Maritzburg United, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has described his opponents as a ‘well-coached and difficult’ side.
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The Brazilians face The Team of Choice at the Lucas Moripe Stadium. Kick-off is set for 6pm.
Mokwena is looking forward to the “interesting” game against Maritzburg. .
“We are looking forward to facing Maritzburg United, it should be a very interesting one. They are a good team with PSL experience and they have very good players. They also have a very good coach who has very extensive experience in this competition and the PSL, so we will have to come well prepared in order to beat them,” said Mokwena as quoted by Sundowns media.
“These games are very tough and the difficulty is everybody expects you to win, so the pressure is on you and you have to perform on the day and it’s not easy. You have to be prepared and ensure that mentally you are in the right space. The players have to get into the expectation of the right performance. If we can perform to that level, then we’ll be fine,” he added.
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Mokwena lauded the Premier Soccer League for televising NFD games, saying that makes it easier for coaches like him to analyse their opponents.
“Fortunately, we are now getting more coverage of the first division games and we have to give credit to the PSL. Maritzburg United’s latest game was televised. I also have to give a lot of credit to our technical team, specifically our analysis department. They have loaded most of Maritzburg’s games. We will spend a bit of time trying to prepare and see exactly how they set up. The difficulty also is that sometimes you prepare for a certain way of playing and then they come in the cup games and change completely, but we are confident,” he concluded.
