Mamelodi Sundowns veteran goalkeeper Denis Onyango is upbeat ahead of their biggest assignment against Al Ahly, the most successful club on the continent.
Sundowns will face the Egyptian giants in a CAF Champions League Group B match at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Saturday night. Kick-off is at 9pm.
The Brazilians go into the match after winning their first two games in the group stages and are leading the charts with six points. Sundowns defeated Al Hilal 1-0 in South Africa and then scored an important 3-1 away victory in Cameroon against Cotton Sport last week.
“We do not focus on the log table, we focus on the process, and the process for the club and the technical team is to get to 10 or 11 points, which will guarantee us a place in the quarter-finals,” said Onyango.
“Of course we want to win all the games in the group and to get momentum going into the quarter-finals, but the main focus is to make sure that we qualify rather than looking at the position on the log.”
Onyango explained further: “Preparations are going very well and everyone is looking forward to going to Cairo to face one of the biggest teams on the continent.
“It’s always interesting to play Al Ahly and this fixture is becoming one of the biggest derbies on the African continent in terms of the CAF Champions League, everyone is looking forward to it.
“So far, so good. We are happy [that] we are going to play them when we already have collected six points and on being on a winning side.”
The 2016 African Player of the Year award winner said the will fly out to Cairo after Wednesday’s training session.
“We do not have a lot of injuries and [we are] looking at the way the team has been training, I believe the technical team will choose the best team to travel and to get maximum results.
“Playing Al Ahly, especially away from home, is always a tough encounter – starting from the airport to the hotel, to the stadium, and to the training ground, because it is one of the powerhouses of African football. So, we need to stay focused and try to win away if possible. If we get to nine points, it gets us a step closer to the next round.”
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