After the draw in Morocco 1-1 against AS FAR, the coach of Mamelodie Sundowns, Manqoba Mngqithi, believes his team will win the next games and will finish leader of the group B.
“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.”
When asked if it became difficult to win Group B and qualify for the knockout stages, Mngqithi said he’s very confident that his team will rise again and will finish leader at the end.
“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 outside, and we’re still going to play them at home”.
“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 he made changes to the structure of the team, which is in my opinion was a sign of good coaching, fully aware of what was happening on the pitch and I give a lot of credit to that, they are a very good team.”
For their next opponent Raja Casablanca, Manqoba thinks his team has better chances to win as they play the Moroccan club in South Africa.
“It’s another opponent that we need to look at closely, but what I can tell you is it’s gonna be difficult for any team to play us at home. We put ourselves in a good position with the 2 points earned even if we were hoping to get 6 points from our two matches. My players performed well and I think at home they will be even better”
Manqoba Mngqithi
After two games, AS FAR is leader with 4 points, followed by the South-africans of Sundowns and the Congolese team Maniema Union (2 points each), then Raja Casablanca (1 point).
