Downs welcome underdogs tag – Mokwena

IN the wake of Mamelodi Sundowns’ startling midweek defeat, rampant Kaizer Chiefs will want to affirm that the reigning Premiership champions have indeed lost the air of invincibility when they meet tomorrow.

Over the weekend, there is a full round of eight matches which will be headlined by the ChiefsSundowns showdown. This 3pm clash at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria has the making of a blockbuster given the contrasting form of the two high-profile teams.

Sundowns, on home soil, suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of TS Galaxy, who were starved of possession from start to finish.

Chiefs, the hosts at FNB Stadium, won 3-0 against Maritzburg United, who enjoyed more possession. Maritzburg gifted two of the three goals to Chiefs, who bounced back after losing their opening match.

Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena said Galaxy enjoyed a massive advantage because they recently acquired midfielder Sibusiso Vilakazi.

Mokwena said Vilakazi spent the entire pre-season training with Sundowns and he had the intelligence to share with German coach Sead Ramovic.

“You could see that having had

Vila (Vilakazi) train with us the entire pre-season (before joining Galaxy) played a little bit into their advantage,” said Mokwena.

“He has too much intel (intelligence) and they knew 150% of the weaknesses of our team. But we could’ve played better.

“We know we can play better. We know we had a couple of players not on regular intensity personally. But that’s [down to] preparation, and preparation always depends on us, the coaches.

“If the team is not well prepared concerning the duels, the physicality, and the intensity, then we must look at ourselves first.

“We need to check and see how we prepared the team. Hopefully we

can prepare the team better for the next match (against Chiefs).

“We welcome the tag of being underdogs. We lost on the pitch, and we will play on the pitch on Saturday. Chiefs won on Tuesday, and we humbly accept being called underdogs. It removes a lot of pressure from us.

“Before, Chiefs used to have a huge reliance on experienced players such as Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Bernard Parker and Lebo Manyama. Now they are resorting to the likes of Yusuf Maart and Ashley du Preez with their aggressive pressing.”

Chiefs enjoyed a double boost yesterday when the PSL announced that the lanky midfielder Phathutshedzo Nange is free to play again after he was slapped with a two-match ban at the end of last season.

The other good news was that Chiefs signed Mozambican international Edmilson Dove on a two-year deal. He last played for Cape Town City.

Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane said a major factor behind the team’s improved performance was the contribution of Muzi Maluleke, a sports scientist at the University of Pretoria. He has joined Chiefs’ backroom staff.

“I will be brutally honest and say for the past six or seven years, we have been playing the game of two halves,” said Zwane.

“It’s either we start well and finish badly, or we start badly, and we finish strongly.

“It was clear that the problem was either wrong playing personnel or the wrong people in terms of conditioning players.

“We did our homework and we profiled him (Maluleke) and we knew that we needed this kind of person to come and help the team.

“Now you can see that we can easily play with the same tempo though there are still mistakes here and there.

“The key is for us to take the tempo very high, so the opposition doesn’t cope, more especially when we play at home. We must suffocate them (opponents) here.”