Al Hilal head coach Florent Ibenge feels there’s a major difference between the first time he faced Mamelodi Sundowns to the clash at Loftus Versveld on Saturday afternoon.
During his time with AS Vita Club, Ibenge knocked Sundowns out of the competition but ended up being kicked out due to fielding an ineligible player in the game.
However, he feels back then, he had no video data or analysts to adequately prepare to face the Brazilians – something he feels is an advantage.
“It’s a different game, every game is different, back then when we played with them, we didn’t have any videos, we didn’t know how to assess them, now it’s different, we can asses them, the first time I played Sundowns, we know nothing about them,” Ibenge said in the pre-match press conference.
“But we managed to get the result, but this time around we know what kind of team [and challenge] we are facing.”
Ibenge is expected to play with a low block, with a goalless draw likely to be targeted as an away point in the group alongside Sundowns, Al Ahly, and Coton Sport – which would provide a positive platform for their ambitions to qualify for the knockout stages.
Malawi international Gerald Phiri Jnr. reiterated that the backroom staff have been on point in their preparation and they didn’t need to seek advice on his experience in facing Masandawana during his time in the DStv Premiership.
“The information I had [on Sundowns] has already been brought forward during training, so I didn’t really get the chance to say ‘coach, we need to do this’,” he stated about their preparations.
“Whatever I thought would help us was already done in training, so a big shout out to our analysts, they are doing a good job.”
Sundowns kick off their group stage campaign against the Sudanese giants in Tshwane this afternoon (15h00).
