Ahead of the Chippa United clash on Wednesday at Nelson Mandela Bay, Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes that this is the type of game they are expected to win.
Downs are still wounded following their 2-1 defeat against their arch-rivals SuperSport United this past weekend. The DStv Premiership champions suffered their first defeat against Matsatsantsa after nine years and it was their second loss of the season after an earlier 1-0 defeat against TS Galaxy.
“The mood is good, obviously we still feel the pain we are not a team that is accustomed to losing matches like those but we have to move on and focus on the next assignment. The boys looked refreshed and ready to give us the game that we expect from them,” Mngqithi told the Sundowns website
Mngqithi spoke highly of Chippa United coach Daine Klate even though things haven’t gone well for them. Chippa recently suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Lamontville Golden Arrows
“It’s encouraging how Daine has done with that team,” he continued.
“They scored some critical goals on set-pieces Banda has been very important to them in that space, They also have Ighadora who has done exceptionally well for them, already involved in two goals if I’m not mistaken if not three.
“Daine, in general, has really structured that team correctly they are very offensive they just don’t play on a break unfortunately in the game against Golden Arrows, I think they had a wonderful second half their first half let them down but they improved throumandance in the second half it shows also the quality of the coaching.
“So we are expecting a very tough match, A match that we know very well as Sundowns that we are expected to win”
“I think the rest has come handy considering that we’ve had quite a lot of back-to-back games. This already shows in some of the players that they do not look as fresh as they were before. So we believe that extra day is going to come in handy and help us to have a little bit fresher team more focused and understanding what is expected of us.”
The 51-year-old praised Sundowns fans for their support through bad and good times.
“You are always short of words to say how much you appreciate the support you are getting even in moments where you feel you have disappointed the yellow nation but they are still behind you and they make you feel good all the time cause they show that they are really here to show the support team not to always criticize,” he said.
“Because sometimes you lose matches that you are not supposed to lose, sometimes you win matches that probably you were not supposed to win but with them they are with us in good times and bad times and our happiness towards the support that we are getting from the yellow nation is unbelievable and we will forever feel in depth in them.”
