Mamelodi Sundowns face TP Mazembe in the third match of their Caf Champions League campaign in Lubumbashi on Saturday and co-coach Rhulani Mowena is well aware of the threat the Congolese team poses.
The South African champions sit top of group B ater 2-0 and 5-1 wins over Al-Hilal Omdurman of Sudan and CR Belouizdad of Algeria respectively.
“They are a very good and interesting team who are defensively very strong‚” said Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena‚ adding that they have watched videos of Mazembe’s past few matches.
“We have watched their matches in the derby against Saint-Éloi Lupopo and against Al Hilal of Sudan.
“In relation to what we have seen we know that it’s a 4-4-1-1 system but it will be very interesting because we still have to tactically activate ourselves to make sure that we are ready for a team that’s got very complex personalities.
“They can be very aggressive‚ they push their wingers very high but they can also be very conservative by sitting on the block and playing on the counter.
“They have very fast players up front‚ so it is going to be interesting to see how they go about their business because they need the three points more than we do.”
“We did some injury prevention work and activation on major muscle pulls‚ this is very important at this stage of the season. It also helps in relation to the travelling that we do because we sit for two or three hours on the flight and another hour on the bus.
“It is important that you wake the muscles up to put yourself in a position not to suffer muscular injuries.”
