Staff Reporter.
(SS) – Mamelodi Sundowns welcome Orlando Pirates to the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday at 3pm with their MTN8 semifinal tie delicately poised.
The two teams played out to a goalless draw in the first leg at the Orlando Stadium three weeks ago, although the Buccaneers were unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet after they created numerous chances.
Sundowns uncharacteristically failed to register a single shot on target and they were indebted to goalkeeper Ronwen Williams for pulling off crucial saves to deny Nkosinathi Sibisi and Kermit Erasmus.
The Brazilians come into the second leg in much better form, having beaten La Passe 15-1 on aggregate in the CAF Champions League before returning to the top of the DStv Premiership table with a 1-0 win over Marumo Gallants on Wednesday.
Downs co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi hinted that Peter Shalulile could make a “surprise” return against Pirates after he was rested for their last three matches.
“The biggest thing I’m happy about is that we tried to see how the team can perform without Peter in the past three matches,” Mngqithi said.
“And in those matches we scored 16 goals. For us that is very important. As to whether he [Shalulile] will be part of this one I cannot be sure.
“We rested him over the past two or three matches because we also want to have him as fresh as possible. Probably he might come in as a big surprise for this match.
“It’s very difficult to say whether he’s in or out because the specialists have to give a call in that space. His condition is still OK physicality, so we have to wait and see what comes out from the specialists.”
The Sea Robbers halted a three-match winless run in the league as they defeated Golden Arrows 2-0 on Tuesday to move up to fourth in the standings, three points behind Masandawana, who have two games in hand.
Jose Riveiro’s side also stopped the rot against Masandawana last time out, having lost their five previous league and cup meetings.
Riveiro insists their past record means little to him and revealed they will adopt the same approach as in the first leg.
“The most important thing for us is how we’re going to play in the next game, the past doesn’t have any bearing in this game,” the Spaniard said.
“There are a lot of interesting things to discuss about the game but the past isn’t one of them.
“We approach this game like we did the first, we don’t think about the names but we focus on what we want to produce in every game and the structure we’re going to use to achieve our objectives.”
“An away goal can be an important factor at the end of a game, but we need to score and we didn’t (in the first leg). There is no advantage for anyone so far, but we need to score.”
Meanwhile AmaZulu FC will go head to head with Kaizer Chiefs in an MTN8 semifinal second-leg match at the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.
Amazulu are in control of this tie having grabbed an important away goal in the first-leg encounter which was played in Johannesburg three weeks ago and they will progress to the final if they keep a clean sheet against Chiefs.
However, the KwaZulu-Natal giants are enduring a poor run having extended their winless run to seven matches across all competitions when they drew 1-1 with Maritzburg United in a DStv Premiership clash in midweek.
Chiefs, who are the most decorated club in the history of the Top 8 competition with 15 titles, are on the back foot as it is imperative for the Soweto giants to find the back of the net against AmaZulu.
The Glamour Boys are coming into this cup encounter winless in their last two matches having fought back to hold TS Galaxy to a 2-2 draw in a DStv Premiership match in midweek.