Coach Mdaka not deflated by Confed loss in Algeria

After suffering a 0-2 defeat to USM Alger in the CAF Confederation Cup on Sunday, Marumo Gallants caretaker coach Raymond Mdaka doesn't think that will have an impact on their confidence as they shift their focus to the Nedbank Cup.

Gallants will host Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup last-16 round at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, on Thursday.

Before losing to Alger on Sunday, Gallants were in a good run, winning four successive matches and were planning to translate that performance to domestic competition.

“The morale and confidence are still there. Sometimes when you lose a game, it gives you the energy to be desperate to bounce back,” Mdaka explained to Sowetan yesterday.

“So I don’t think there is a challenge at all. It's just that we have many games to play, that’s one thing I need to mention and all of them are important, that's the only challenge for now.

“But we are not prioritising any matches [over others]. We just need to be consistent and try to force results and think that’s the best way of managing the situation.”

With Sundowns' depth in their squad, Mdaka believes the fact that they don’t know who they will put on the field makes their planning job a bit difficult.

Sundowns saw their 18-match winning run ended when they drew with Al-Ahly 2-2 in the Champions League this past weekend and will want to return to winning ways too.

“We just need to focus on each game as it comes and I think that will be easy for us. Now we must focus on Sundowns,” he said. “They are in very good form. We cannot dispute that, but the truth is results come from the field.

“You will never know who Sundowns are going to bring, they have enough personnel and the motivation from the players is high. But we are motivated to play against them.”

Reflecting on their defeat on Sunday, Mdaka said the Algerians didn’t make life easy for them, but that they are a side which they can beat when they meet again on March 8 at Dobsonville Stadium.

“I realised that they didn’t allow us to play; they were pressing us because they knew we could play. If we want to play how they do we can’t compete because aerially they are too strong as well as long balls. So we just have to play our normal football and I think we can beat them.”

After their defeat in Algeria, Gallants are lying second in the Confed Cup Group A with 6 points from 3 matches, just one point behind USM.