Staff Reporter.
(SS) – Mamelodi Sundowns will kick off their MTN8 title defence against three-time winners SuperSport United at Tuks Stadium in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
The Brazilians won the competition last season for the fourth time in their history as they went on to secure the domestic treble, having also triumphed in the DStv Premiership and the Nedbank Cup.
Masandawana haven’t made the best of starts this term, however, dropping five points already from their opening five league matches, although they are still second in the standings.
Bafana Ba Style lost 1-0 to TS Galaxy on matchday 2 and were held to a 1-1 draw by Sekhukhune United on matchday 4, leaving them one point behind leaders Orlando Pirates with a game in hand.
Manqoba Mngqithi’s side claimed their first piece of silverware in 2021/22 after beating Cape Town City 3-2 on penalties in the MTN 8 final following a 1-1 draw after extra-time.
Sundowns and SuperSport conducted some transfer business between themselves over the last two months, with Ronwen Williams and Sipho Mbule making the switch to Chloorkop, while Thabang Sibanyoni, Ricardo Goss and Grant Margeman moved in the opposite direction on loan deals.
However, Matsatsantsa head coach Gavin Hunt will not be able to call on the trio for the cup-tie due to an agreement that was struck with their parent club.
Rulani Mokwena insisted their Tshwane rivals “crippled” themselves by agreeing to the conditions of the loan moves.
“This thing doesn’t start now, it’s been ongoing,” Mokwena said in the pre-match press conference. “I think the clubs also have the right to enter into these discussions with each other.
“It is then their right to make or not to make the agreement. If they then make the agreements and then feel they are crippled, then no-one was forced to sign them to sign these agreements in the first place.”
Hunt’s return to Atteridgeville hasn’t quite gone according to plan after going winless in his first four games back at the helm.
SuperSport finally picked up their first victory of the campaign on Wednesday when they beat newly-promoted Richards Bay 1-0 in Durban.
Their recent derby record doesn’t make for good reading though, as SuperSport haven’t gotten the better of their local rivals in six meetings across all competitions, with Downs boasting four wins.
Hunt admits they cannot go toe-to-toe with the most dominant force in South African football, but suggested that victory can be achieved by being clever in how they approach the encounter.
“If we have a football match, we will lose,” he said. “So, how we go about it takes a lot of game intelligence and that can only be practiced and explained.
“We have to do things a bit different and that’s through finer things that we can try and do. We have an idea, but I mean we need to implement those things and that takes intelligence.
“It takes a little bit of know-how, a little bit of humility. If you understand football, then you need to be humble about these things. If we say, ‘right, we are going to have an open game with you’ we will lose.”
Full MTN8 Fixtures:
Saturday, 27 August 2022
Cape Town City vs Amazulu (Athlone Stadium) – 15:00
Royal AM vs Orlando Pirates (Chatsworth Stadium) – 18:00
Sunday, 28 August 2022
Stellenbosch FC vs Kaizer Chiefs (Danie Craven Stadium) – 15:00
Mamelodi Sundowns vs Supersport United (Tuks Stadium) 18:00.