Fans eagerly anticipate the much-anticipated CAF Champions League blockbuster between Mamelodi Sundowns and former coach Rulani Mokwena’s MC Alger on Friday night.
Sundowns and Alger will play at the Ali La Pointe Stadium in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. The game is scheduled to get underway at 9pm.
Mokwena will play Sundowns for the first time since leaving the Brazilians about two seasons ago, and the match has been on the minds of many football fans since the two teams were drawn in the same group a few months ago.
The stakes will be extremely high, even though Miguel Cardoso, the current Sundowns coach, avoided and used an unpleasant tone when asked how he would handle the emotions of the majority of the players, who also happen to have a personal relationship with Mokwena.
“We had a good relationship with the coach [Mokwena], and it will be a nice feeling to play against him because it’s never happened before,” said Sundowns defender Aubrey Modiba.
“Everyone is excited for the game. We’ve been speaking about how enjoyable it’s going to be seeing him in different gear [at a new club]. But we’re professionals; we must do what we must do—we must make sure we win the game.”
Sundowns’ coach knows what to expect
Cardoso, who was already showing signs of being emotional before the encounter against Mokwena’s side, was kind enough toward the North African media and said he knew what to expect against Mokwena.
“I expect the match to be very intense in an environment where the best players who excel become better,” Cardoso said in a press conference on Thursday.
“We love it, and it’s absolutely wonderful to have a full stadium with supporters. We also know that the matches will be high intensity, and the crowd won’t allow them to be slow, so we need to be ready for that.
“When we experience an ambiance like that, we know we will face high-level motivation, which I love. I worked in Tunisia and experienced a lot of this kind of environment.
“We have a lot of experience in the Champions League around North Africa, which has always had this kind of ambiance.”
