Downs look to sharpen up in front of goal

Failing to score in their past two outings, which they drew goalless against Cape Town City and Swallows, has seen Mamelodi Sundowns focus their recent training sessions on how to score goals, reveals midfielder Bongani Zungu.

“Yesterday [on Monday] in training we were working on how to score goals because that’s something that’s missing at the moment,” Zungu told the club’s media department on Tuesday.

In the same breath, Zungu, who played the last 12 minutes in the draw against Swallows on Sunday after recovering from a muscle injury, views keeping clean sheets in both of their past two outings as the main takeaway.

“The team has got used to winning game after game but the last two games we didn’t win. Obviously, there are positives from the last two games... we didn’t concede,” noted the Brazillians midfielder.

Sundowns, who’ve already clinched the championship, face Golden Arrows at Princess Magogo Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm). Zungu expects Abafana Bes’thende to be a tough nut to crack, seeing the game as a perfect chance to re-infuse that winning mindset.

“Golden Arrows are a good team. They’ve been performing really good recently... they won the last game [1-0 versus Richards Bay last weekend]. They’ve got some good players. It’s a game that we want to win...we want to bring back that winning mentality in the team. We don’t want to relax just because we’ve [already] won the league,” Zungu stated.

Zungu missed six games after sustaining a muscle strain in the Nedbank Cup round of 16 clash against Marumo Gallants early last month. The former Amiens and Glasgow Rangers man is keeping his fingers crossed to remain injury free.

“My wish is to be injury free and I am grateful that I got an opportunity against Swallows. I got injured in a Nedbank Cup game [against Marumo]… it’s been a tough few weeks for me,” Zungu said.

“[But] right now I am feeling fit and fresh, hopefully whenever the coach gives me a chance to play, I will be ready because my duty is to help the team as much as I can.”