Sundowns take cautious approach with Williams and Mokoena before CAF Super Cup

Mamelodi Sundowns manager Miguel Cardoso says the club will not risk the health of Ronwen Williams or Teboho Mokoena as they race to recover before Sunday’s CAF Super Cup tie.

Both players are key figures for the Brazilians but have been dealing with fitness problems, leaving them with limited time to reach full fitness for the continental fixture at Loftus Versfeld.

Cardoso said Sundowns would welcome the return of both players for important matches, but stressed that protecting their long-term wellbeing was more important. The coach also said the club trusted the alternatives available in their positions.

“Very difficult to really – we cannot risk the health of a player and this is our role here, it’s to protect our players and the health of the players,” he said.

“Let’s see how things will progress and obviously we’d like them to be ready for the biggest matches. I think we have players who are doing well in their positions, whom we trust.”

The Portuguese coach gave further details about Mokoena’s condition, saying the midfielder had returned from international duty in poor physical shape and injured before suffering another setback.

Mokoena had still played in the MTN8 final despite his initial concerns. His recovery was then complicated by an incident during Sundowns’ match against Wiliete SC.

“We had a big setback with Teboho as you understood, publicly, he didn’t come, not even close to being in good conditions from the national team, he returned injured, and it was important he played in the MTN8 final.

“But then an unfortunate action against Wiliete, he was standing on one leg, he had a contact and of course it was a small thing on the leg, let’s see… A lot of work has been done on him, you saw him smiling and dancing.”

Although Mokoena has shown encouraging signs during his recovery, Cardoso said he could not give a firm timescale for the player’s return. He explained that the midfielder’s positive mood did not necessarily mean he was ready to play.

Williams is also being managed through a similar recovery process, although Cardoso indicated that the goalkeeper is not suffering from a serious injury.

“I think his mood is okay – his capacity to play, let’s see when he can come back of course, we have to protect him. Ronwen is a similar process, it’s not a big injury, he was struggling, we’re doing our best to have him in proper conditions, because we need to protect these players, so we need to take our time.”

The CAF Super Cup match is scheduled to kick off at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday at 15h00.