Mamelodi Sundowns are set to renew their rivalry with Kaizer Chiefs when the two sides do battle at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in their next DStv Premiership clash on Saturday.
Sundowns will come into this fixture looking to bounce back and return to winning ways after they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to TS Galaxy.
Amakhosi, meanwhile, secured their first win of the campaign after they cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Maritzburg United as Ashley Du Preez, Keagan Dolly and young teenager Mduduzi Shabalala added their names to the scoresheet.
The defeat saw Sundowns drop down to eighth place in the DStv Premiership standings with three points from two games. Chiefs’ win saw them move a position above the Brazilians in seventh place.
When the two sides met in the DStv Premiership last season, Sundowns walked away victorious in the two-legged fixture with four points out of six by claiming a 2-0 win over Amakhosi at the Lucas Moripe Stadium before playing out to a 1-1 draw at the FNB Stadium in the return leg.
“It’s one of those [games],” Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena said.
“Not an easy one against a very well-coached side and you can see that having Vila [Sibusiso Vilakazi] train with us the entire pre-season, very smart, intelligent person, played to their advantage a little bit. He has too much intel and they knew 150% the weaknesses of our team.
“But, be that as it may, we could have played better, we know that we can play better. We know we had a couple of players not on their regular momentum, intensity, personality but that is preparation and its always us the coaches [that must shoulder the blame].
“If the team is not well prepared in relation to the duels, the physicality and the intensity, then we have to look at ourselves first and check how we prepared the team and hopefully we can prepare the team better for the next match.”
“Football is a funny game, I think the past game we played very well compared to today and we lost the game,” Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane said.
“And today we played in patches but we were clinical in front of goal and it could have been more.
“But I’m so proud of mostly the youngsters who came on and kept the very same tempo, they took the game to the opposition because we were already worried that they dropped the tempo at some point and allow them [Maritzburg] back into the game. Their confidence grew and they could score at any given time from dead-ball situations or open play.
“But I think our defence did very well, led by Zitha Kwinika. What is important today is us keeping a clean sheet.
“Also Bruce [Bvuma] did very well but made a few errors that he needs to work on but going forward is never going to be easy, we still have a very long way to go. We’re in a rebuilding phase but we’re still grinding results.”
Both squads have no injury or suspensions to report.
Haashim Domingo is slowly beginning to find his form for Sundowns after showing a glimpse into his qualities against Cape Town City and TS Galaxy.
Yusuf Maart will be looking to build on his impressive performance for Chiefs which saw him earn the Man of the Match award against Maritzburg United as he made the midfield his own.
Mamelodi Sundowns For This Season:
WL
Kaizer Chiefs Form This Season:
LW