Sundowns must beat Wiliete to reach CAF Champions League group stage

Mamelodi Sundowns will need to produce a significantly improved performance against Wiliete SC on Friday if they are to progress to the CAF Champions League group stages.

The sides drew 0-0 in the first leg in Angola on Sunday, leaving Sundowns without the advantage they had hoped to take into the second-round return match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

The Brazilians must win in Pretoria to advance. Any score draw would eliminate them from the competition they are aiming to defend.

Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso acknowledged that his team had failed to make the most of its opportunities in the opening match and said they would work to put that right on Friday.

“I think we could’ve done better; we could’ve had more control and could’ve had more aggression in the box,” Cardoso told the club media department.

“We will prepare this match in the best possible way. We need to be stronger than we were. Be more aggressive and more offensive. We need to be on the level of the team that wants to state itself in the Champions League.

“Despite our intentions, we’re not happy with this result. Of course, we could’ve scored.”

Cardoso also pointed to fatigue as a factor in the result, believing his players should have converted some of the chances they created.

“It was a difficult context to manage. We have to be intentional, to prepare well and give some a rest because it was also clear that there was a little bit of fatigue in some of the players,” he said.

The coach felt Sundowns had started to establish control during the first half, but said their attacking threat reduced after the interval.

“There were moments in the first half where it seemed the game could become, I wouldn’t say easy, but we would create our moments. But in the second half, it was not easy to settle down, so we needed to change a few things, we needed to be more aggressive, more offensive and put numbers on the offensive attitude rather than what I saw.”

The match also brought an injury concern for midfielder Tebogo Mokoena, who was carried off on a stretcher. Cardoso said the extent of the problem was not yet known, but hoped the player could recover before Friday.

“Tebogo is a little bit out of touch with that ligament that he got injured while in the national team; at the moment we don’t know the extent of the injury, but he could not continue in the match.

“Let’s hope it’s not a big thing and [he can] recover for the next match,” the coach said.