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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane is often the first to know his opponents like the back of his hand – but he is not so sure he has enough information heading into Sundowns’ CAF Champions League fixture today.
The 2016 champions face Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya in the opening leg of their first-round clash at Cairo’s Petro Sport Stadium. The game is being staged in Egypt because of ongoing turmoil in Libya.
To ensure Sundowns did not go into Cairo blindly, the club sent technical analyst Goolam Valodia to spy on the Libyan champions recently.
“We have at least a sense of direction to say what kind of a team we are facing,” said Mosimane shortly after his side was held to a goalless draw by Baroka FC in Atteridgeville on Tuesday.
However, the 2016 CAF coach of the year still believes he has north African teams’ style of play all figured out.
“Libyan, Egyptian, Algerian and Moroccan teams have the same culture of football with a European influence – they are good on technique and they have rigid structures,” said Mosimane.
“We will have to dig a little bit deeper.”
However, Benghazi’s run in the competition so far suggests their meeting with Sundowns could mark the end of the road for the Libyan outfit.
Benghazi squeezed into this round with a narrow 3-2 aggregate win over FC Nouadhibou of Mauritania, having lost the away leg 2-1 but recovering with a 2-0 win at home.
In contrast, the Brazilians reached the first round after a 5-1 demolition of Leones Vegetarianos of Equatorial Guinea in Pretoria a fortnight ago to progress 7-1 on aggregate – the second-highest winning margin in the preliminary round. Sundowns won the first leg 2-0 away. Should Sundowns fail to find the net in Cairo this afternoon, Mosimane believes a clean sheet will give them a boost heading into the reverse leg next Saturday.
“We can sort it out here because our play always gives north African teams a tough time. They don’t like people who dribble,” he said.
Today’s game will mark the fifth fixture for Sundowns in two weeks.
“That’s what comes with the Champions League – lots of games.
“That’s why we have muscle injuries to players like Mshishi,” said Mosimane, referring to Themba Zwane,who is on the long casualty list alongside Rivaldo Coetzee and Ricardo Nascimento.
“But you can’t complain. Champions League is a big thing [and] you need to dig deeper and play ... you’re on the flight and you must come back and play [again],” said Mosimane.
The winner between Sundowns and Benghazi over two legs will advance to the group stage.
The loser will drop to the Confederation Cup play-off round.
Today’s game kicks off at 5pm South African time.
