Sundowns out for a hat-trick
Mamelodi Sundowns will be hoping to end their year with a third consecutive Absa Premiership win when they travel to Cape Town to face Chippa United on Wednesday evening.
The match will take place at Athlone Stadium with kick-off set for 19h30 (CAT).
Following the dismissal of Johan Neeskens and the takeover of Pitso Mosimane, the Brazilians have started to show some form of revival as they now sit in tenth place.
Wins over Black Leopards and Bidvest Wits has the squad just 90 minutes away from going into the Christmas and African Cup of Nations break with smiles on their faces, and the coach believes his side are coming together.
“Today I think there was more than 12 passes [before Katlego Mphela made it 2-0 against Wits], so my philosophy is coming in slowly, the players are responding well,” Mosimane said following his side’s second win under his tenure.
Mphela’s second goal against Wits was only the 11th goal Sundowns had scored all season, leaving them the second lowest goalscorers in the league, and the former Bafana coach believes they could have killed off the game with a bigger margin.
“You know South African players don't know how to kill a team, they massage a team, they feel sorry for a team, you must kill, five goals,” he added.
“We played against a very good team, they pressed us at the beginning, but our movement is happening, they understand my movement. Hopefully we can finish more chances.”
Mosimane further underlined the need for his side to improve their decisiveness in front of goal and they will be hoping it will happen against a team who has been equally struggling to take charge in scoring.
The Chilli Boys have found the back of the net just once more than their next adversaries and their 1-1 draw to AmaZulu left Farouk Abrahams ruing their missed chances in front of goal.
“I think it was two points dropped rather than a point gained. I thought we came back in the second half after a terrible first half,” he said after the game.
“Some of our stalwarts didn’t really come to the party. I think some of the changes we made brought some positive life into the game.
“I think we lacked the composure in front of goal. Players don’t realise there is a switch on period up to two seconds, and all throughout South Africa the strikers’ reactions are very, very slow.”
Under Abrahams the squad have only lost twice in seven games and he believes they will come out victorious on the Wednesday night.
“It is about the players- they must die for the team and they must die for the badge. It is a tough league and sometimes you can make it easier by just committing to the right moments in a game.
“I think that it [the game against Sundowns] is going to be the game where we will get three points form, for sure.”
