Mokwena feels Sundowns need near-perfect run to win Champs League

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena wants his charges to be the perfectionists, who don't rely on luck in their CAF Champions League journey, believing this is the only way to conquer.

Sundowns face Sudanese giants Al-Merrikh in their second Champions League Group A fixture in Egypt tomorrow (3pm). The Brazilians are at the summit of the pool via the three points they collected at home in the opener against another side from Sudan Al-Hilal last Friday. Al Ahly, the defending champions, are also in this group.

“In the PSL you get possibilities to win the league because you’re the best team consistently with the best players over 60 matches. Sometimes you can win matches with a bit of luck but the Champions League is a different monster,’’ said Mokwena.

“In the group stages you need to be close to perfection and close to your optimal levels of performances because it’s only six matches in the group stages to be able to get to the knockout phase, where we all have a clear understanding that that’s when the actual tournament kicks off.”

Mokwena also assured they’ve done proper homework on Al-Merrick, breaking down the way they usual play. The Sundowns coach suggested they sent their people to watch the Sudanese’s last few games.

“They played a match against Express [a Ugandan side in the Champs League prelim round] and they played Al-Hilal and we went into those games. The same sort of profile is very evident in the team. [They play] 4-3-3 with a single pivotal from Dhiya [Mahjoub], their No.19. They’ve got two very experienced centre-halves,’’ Mokwena detailed.

“They are a very difficult team with good profiles of individuals and players that are technically very, very good with regards to their relationships with the ball. They got moments where they manipulate and give possibilities to threaten your goal, particularly with combination plays. So, we know what we’re up against.”

Various reports across the continent revealed Al-Merrick, whose name means planet Mars in Arabic, took their game versus Sundowns to Egypt because their home venue in Sudan doesn’t meet CAF’s standards. However, Mokwena has cited political instability as the reason the game was moved to Cairo.

“Of course the Sudanese league has had a lot of disruptions because of a lot of political… I don’t know if turmoil is the right word but there’s a lot of political events taking place in that country and the safety of the teams from that type of perspective is very difficult to guarantee that, then they moved their venue to Egypt,'' said Mokwena.