Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has given an insight into their traveling plans for the upcoming CAF Champions League double matches in Egypt.
Masandawana will return to continental football this coming weekend, facing Al-Merreikh of Sudan on Saturday, before they lock horns with the African champions, Al Ahly on Friday, 25 February.
Masandawana’s mentor has revealed their plans, explaining why the team and management agreed to travel once for these two clashes who will both take place in Egypt.
“We will take a substantial number of players considering that we are playing two matches,” Mngqithi told club’s media department.
“Normally, we take 25 players for one match, but this time around, we’ll take a little more because we know they’re Covid-19 issues.
“There is also the fact that we are playing two matches. And some players are not very ready to play the first, maybe they’ll be ready to play the second one. So, it’s one of those where we have to take as much as we can.
“It’s better to stay [in Egypt] than traveling in and out. If possibly Egypt Air was operating on the days when we would have loved to travel, maybe we would consider going and coming back and going and coming back because we’d be having direct flights there.
“But now we don’t have direct flights because it flies on very few days and unfortunately on the days that we are targeting to go to Egypt, we’re unfortunately having a situation where we don’t have to look at all these other airlines, which makes the traveling very long because it has got a stop somewhere and continue.
“I think a stay in Egypt is the best option. We looked at it with the coaches and everybody else involved in the club and we all feel we might end up having a lot of travel fatigue, if we were to travel in and out, we are still expected to go back the following week.
“So, we will be finding ourselves a good camping place so that we can be able to have a proper training program on that side preparing for the second match.”
The Tshwane giants are at the summit of the CAF Champions League Group A after they edged Al-Hilal 1-0 at Royal Bafokeng Stadium last week, while Al Ahly’s first match against Al-Merreikh was postponed.
