Mamelodi Sundowns will look to turbocharge their pursuit of a spot in the CAF Champions League finals when they resume their semifinals campaign on Friday evening at Loftus Versfeld. They will head to Friday’s clash on the back of a 1-0 deficit to ES Tunis. Looking ahead of the encounter in their backyard, Coach Rulani has backed his side to overturn the results and advance to the final stage of the competition.
Backing the Brazilians throughout the campaign, has been the Yellow Nation and the Masnadawana coach stated the importance of winning the second leg for them as they have carried them to this point in both home and away matches.
“We understand that it’s only halftime, but a halftime that we go into with a disadvantage. With commitment, enthusiasm and positivity, we know that we can overturn the result. The good thing about the second leg is that it takes place in front of our people and we want to do it for them and make them happy. We are looking excited and forward to what is going to be a very exciting game,” he stated.
Following the conclusion of the first leg, Coach Rulani was confident in how his charges played and still maintains that they performed very well away from home, even after watching the game. He went in-depth on what he thinks his side did well in and what they could work on before Friday’s clash.
“After watching the game, yes I still have the very same feeling. I think there were some good things that we did very well and those things were controlling certain players of the opposition, which include trying to dominate possession, trying to play a little bit higher than we would normally do, trying to defend the set pieces which we know is a big strength of the opposition and trying to control the rotations that happen on the left and right. There were things for sure that I think we could have done better and Esperance did better than us, like having constant pressure around our box.”
Looking at the statistics of two legged fixtures, Bafana Ba Style have predominantly had better second legs than first legs. When asked whether that has been a concern for his side, Coach Rulani mentioned that it is something he has recently brought up. He said: “it’s actually been one of my criticisms of late in our debriefs, where I get the feeling that they wait for me to help them solve problems. I’d like to see them taking a little bit more responsibility and to solve the problems while they face them instead of waiting for halftime and corrections, because sometimes it’s a little bit too late for that.”
“The one thing I keep saying to them is these games we are about to play from now until the end of the season, you will only value or understand how important it is to play from minute zero to minute 96 after the game. That’s the only time you will realise how important it was to motivate and push yourself from minute one to minute 96,” the coach continued.
Mamelodi Sundowns will clash against Tunisian side, ES Tunis on Friday evening at Loftus Versfeld. Kick off is set for 20H00.
SOURCED FROM MAMELODI SUNDOWNS WEBSITE
