Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has denied the draw to ASFAR makes their quest to win their CAF Champions League group challenging.
Sundowns opened their campaign with a goaless draw with Maniema Union while ASFAR beat Raja on matchday one, making the fixture in El Jidda one to look out for.
Iqraam Rayners broke the deadlock in the second half with a stunner but the lead lasted only eight minutes before captain Mohamed Rabie Hrimat levelled matters as the two sides shared the spoils in Morocco.
“I think the game came out the way I anticipated it, we played against a good team, and we know they will always pose a threat here and there on transitions and set pieces, I think we started the game quite well, dominated the game,” he said.
“I expected them to resist a bit, press on top and make us work very hard. But I think it was Intentional of them not to open up and to stay very deep, not giving us much space.”
Mngqithi denied when asked if their mission to win Group B and qualify for the knockout stages has now become ‘very difficult’.
“I don’t think it makes our mission in the group very difficult, because I think we played very well, and under normal circumstances, a match like this away, we’d win, but we didn’t. It’s still a very valuable point away from home, we’ll still going to play them at home,” he said confidently.
“They have a bit of an advantage at the moment, the fact that we have two points can change completely, we’re confident we will do well and I’m also very happy with how we played while commending the work of their coach.
“He saw very big overload, and immediately before even 20 minutes he made changes, the structure of the team, for me was a sign of good coaching, fully aware of what was happening on the pitch and I give god credit to that, they are a very good team.”
