'Forget MTN8 success' - Mngqithi advises Mamelodi Sundowns ahead of Cape Town City encounter

Coach Manqoba Mngqithi has advised Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns to forget the MTN8 final success against Cape Town City and focus on the upcoming league game on Saturday.

Cape Town City will host the Brazilians after they were defeated in the final of the domestic tournament in a penalty shootout last month.

However, Mngqithi has insisted his side must forget everything to do with the intense October 30 encounter and set the target of winning the league game.

"The MTN8 result is history now, so it is important to go into this match and respect it because they gave us a tough time in the MTN8 and, based on that, we know very well what to expect," Mngqithi told the club's media team.

"We are facing a very good team that is organised and dangerous offensively and has a good transition from defence to attack.

"But they are also a team with defensive frailties that we can try and capitalise on. We are going into this game with a lot of respect and humility.

"At Sundowns, all we want is to win and play good football, our type of football, but we must do that with a lot of respect. 

"We have played them before in Cape Town, and we know what they are capable of. They also know what we are capable of, and it is going to be a very nice game for the spectators.

"We must understand what they bring into the game and their structure so that we can be able to have a team that we can shift around to try and match whatever they are bringing on the day.

Mamelodi Sundowns.

The tactician also spoke about the advantages they earned from the international break, especially the recovery of two of their star players.

"Maybe the break came at the right time for us with some small knocks before. Rivaldo [Coetzee] and [Khuliso] Mudau got knocks, but those players are now back in training and we are almost having a full-strength squad as it is now," he added.

"That puts us, as coaches, in a difficult position in terms of team selection, but truth be told, it is a squad that we believe has the capacity to help us get the results that we require in this match."

The Cape Town City game afford Masandawana another opportunity to continue with their unbeaten run, having not tasted defeat yet this season.