Johannesburg — Manqoba Mngqithi has been in the game long enough to know that past results are nothing more than a sign of what was and that they have little to no impact on what will be.
And as he looked ahead to their clash with SuperSport United, the Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach was reading nothing into the Brazilians’ recent MTN8 victory over Matsatsantsa.
If anything, the soft-spoken coach is expecting an even tougher clash from their Tshwane rivals when the two teams take each other on in a Premiership clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium tomorrow.
“Playing SuperSport is always a tough match regardless of the competition and regardless of the frequency as to how many times we have played them, and what was the outcome of the previous match. So, we are expecting another tough encounter,” Mngqithi said.
Sundowns beat SuperSport 2-0 and logic would be to pencil them in as runaway favourites for the league clash. But football, Mngqithi knows, can be fickle. A team you beat just the other day could well pull the rug from under your feet should you allow complacency to creep in. After all, don’t they say that revenge is a dish best served cold?
“We are expecting yet another tough encounter. It took us 80 minutes in the previous match to break them down and again we are going for the same encounter, which is always fierce and aggressive. They are a very good team to play against and they are coached by one of the best coaches (Gavin Hunt) in the country. We are expecting a very competitive match, which we have to be prepared for,” Mngqithi said.
Having recently played each other and lost, Mngqithi anticipates that SuperSport will have more to play for.
“The second match (against the same opposition) in a row is always having a lot inside. One, the level of intrinsic motivation from your players against the opposition; how much do they want it and how much do your players want it,” he said.
They can be dangerous when wounded Mngqithi acknowledges.
“If you have beaten a team in the first match, they come in to the next one with nothing to lose. And when you go all out and you know, if I lose that is what everybody expects anyway. Then you give everything, and - in most cases - you always have better energy, better focus and better commitment to every situation in the game,” Mngqithi said.
That being what he anticipates from their opponents, Mngqithi is nevertheless confident that Sundowns will be able to handle whatever it is their neighbours throws at them.
“We have got a very committed bunch of players and the competition among the players makes them not to say ‘I want to play less in this match’ because there’s someone looking to come in should you make a mistake,” Mngqithi said.
It is the presence of fierce competition for starting places at Sundowns that has contributed to them being the dominant force they have been in the South African game in the last decade.
And while they have had an uncharacteristic patchy start to the season losing and drawing in their five matches to date, the Sundowns remain favourites for the title. A second victory over a SuperSport team that are also considered title contenders would be warning enough to the rest of the league that they will have to bring the A game to wrestle the championship away from Mngqithi & Co.
IOL Sport