Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has divulged on what it took for his side to beat Pyramids FC. He added that they had to respond to every question that was asked by the Egyptian outfit.
Victory over Pyramids
Sundowns produced an all-important 1-0 victory over Pyramids during their heated Caf Champions League Group A clash at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Tuesday evening.
Thanks to a first-half spectacular goal from midfielder Teboho Mokoena, who struck from a distance after a Lucas Ribeiro Costa magic. Costa dazzled past defenders on the edge of the box to set Mokoena up.
New joint table leaders
The victory means that the DStv Premiership champions are now joint table leaders with TP Mazembe on seven points, who also had to dig deep and scored two late goals to seal a crucial victory against Mauritania’s FC Nouadhibou in their early kick off.
Speaking to the media after the match, Mokwena said his charges needed to adapt to the conditions of the game and what it threw at them.
Winning tactics
“We are football romantics, we love football. But we also understand that in the game of football you have to answer what the game asks of you,” Mokwena said.
“If the game asks you to counter-attack, you’ve got to counterattack, we don’t play for that. If the game asks you to suffer and absorb, we must suffer and absorb pressure, but we don’t play for that.
“For the majority of the game we had some good moments where we dominated possession, and that’s not always easy in the Champions League. So we had to play and answer that – that’s the modern game now.
Hard work is key
“If you look at the modern game, the best teams in the world… what makes Manchester City a difficult team to beat? They work very, very hard when they don’t have the ball.
“What makes Arsenal at the moment probably the best team in the English Premier League is that they work very, very hard when they don’t have the ball.
“And that’s where the modern game is – answer the questions that the game asks you. If the game asks you to win from set pieces, you must win on set pieces, that’s where football is.”
Sundowns will now turn their attention to the domestic league, as they will only return to Champions League action on February 23 against Nouadhibou.
