Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies head coach Jerry Tshabalala says he is pleased with the preparations for the Kansas City Cup.
The African champions have been invited to the prestigious women’s tournament involving hosts Kansas City, European side Atletico Madrid and Japanese side Kobe.
The Queens of the Continent have been on a winning streak in the Hollywoodbets Super League and are currently sitting at the top of the log with 53 points from 20 matches.
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Tshabalala spoke to the media at Chloorkop on Thursday ahead of the trip where he said the team has made necessary preparations including a match with a Botswana club.
“It’s very important for us to build up to this tournament especially with the opposition that we had and to go out there with good results,” Tshabalala told reporters.
“You saw the previous two games we came back very, very strong. We had two good wins and we had a game yesterday against a team from Botswana which I think went well. And as a technical team we have managed to get what we wanted to get out of the players.”
Tshabalala says it will be important to not just concentrate on the oppositions but also their own strengths. The tournament is known to attract a lot of scouts and Tshabalala says as a technical team they are working hard to make sure players put the team ahead than playing for themselves.
“It’s my duty as a coach to calm the players down so that players don’t get overwhelmed by the stage and all that. And the fact that there is going to be too many scouts who are scouting first we have to make them aware that they are playing for a team, they are not playing for themselves and representing the badge that’s in front the rest will follow.
“Look we are given the opportunity to go out there and showcase African football and the reason why we are the African champs. I think that’s one of the reasons that managed to get us the opportunity to go out there and participate with these other continents. So basically, for us as technical team we’ve got to do our best in terms of calming the players down so that they don’t play to sign. I’ve seen this movie before where if scouts are there players want to play for themselves.”
The tournament is scheduled from 14-17 August in the US.
