Manqoba Mngqithi, co-coach of Mamelodi Sundowns (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Manqoba Mngqithi would have loved to see Mamelodi Sundowns drawing a another team than Richards Bay in the Nedbank Cup, whom they will face when the season resumes.
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The KwaZulu-Natal outfit has established itself as giant killers in this competition, having landed knockout blows to some top-flight teams like Kaizer Chiefs over the years.
The Downs mentor does not want his Masandawana side to suffer the embarrassment of being booted out by a lower division side, and to avoid that, he says he and his co-head coach, Rhulani Mokwena and senior coach Steve Komphela will have to leave no stone unturned when preparing for the showdown.
“We are playing against a very competitive team in Richards Bay, they have done very well in the GladAfrica Champions this season… they are up there. It says to us, they are giant killers because they have done well in the past against big teams and that becomes very important for us to give this match all the respect that it requires,” said Mngqithi.
“We have to work very hard to make sure that the team is ready for it and one must say that we were a little bit unfortunate with the draw to get a team that I think will give us a hard time but nonetheless we believe we have the capacity to upset any team. We are hopeful that we will be able to get the desired result,” he added.
While Richards Bay are sitting at the summit of the log, only edging JDR Stars with a better goal difference, the Sundowns technical team does know much about them and will have to rely heavily on the video analysis team to get an idea of the kind of team the Natal Rich Boys are.
“They are a closed book because we have not seen too many of their matches this season and we know them to be a team that has always caused upsets, they are a team that is experienced in the Nedbank Cup. They have really done well over the years in that space and we have to thread carefully and make sure that we give them the necessary result.”