Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates may have strengthened their teams to challenge Mamelodi Sundowns in the DStv Premiership, but that’s not a concern for goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene.

Mweene warned that Sundowns will always be a step ahead of their rivals as they do things differently every season. The Brazilians have been so dominant, winning five successive league titles and this prompted both Chiefs and Pirates to go on a rebuilding phase to try and stop them.

“All those teams you mentioned have been strong all along. I think it’s us as Sundowns doing things differently every season,” Mweene told reporters during a launch of the Prince Mangosuthu Legacy Cup in Durban yesterday.

The pre-season tournament will feature Sundowns, AmaZulu, Richards Bay and an unnamed team from the Zululand region and will take place on July 23. 

“So that’s why it looks like it was easy. It is the way that we plan our season. They (Chiefs and Pirates) constantly challenge us every season and we always thrive to improve on our play as Sundowns. We don’t want to be the same team we were last season. We try to go up an inch again."

The Zambian promised Sundowns, who faltered again in the CAF Champions League, would seek to go better than the quarterfinals in the continental competition. “We know what we did in the Champions League and we want to improve on it,” he said.

With a month to the new season, the 37-year-old said they still have the same hunger as last campaign to win everything, but the main priority is to go far in the Champions League. 

“We were disappointed that we never went far with the Champions League because that’s the big one we wanted.

“But to be in the Champions League every season, we must win a domestic league. So for us, it is very important to start with [our focus] on the league title first because that allows us to go into the continental competition ... that’s the most important thing.”