Dirty or not, Saint Eloi Lupopo are not a team to match Mamelodi Sundowns! Ex-Orlando Pirates midfielder gives the Chaminots no chance in CAF Champions League clash

Mamelodi Sundowns will host St Eloi Lupopo this weekend, hoping for nothing less than maximum points in Group D of the CAF Champions League.

On Friday, Rhulani Mokwena's MC Alger fell 2-1 against Al Hilal of Sudan, which further underlines the importance of the Brazilians winning at home to avoid a gap between them and the leaders.

While the Chaminots have no history in the competition, Masandawana have won it once and are hoping to get their second star. Last season, they were undone by Pyramids in the final under coach Miguel Cardoso.

It explains why it will be vital for them to have a good start at home.

Bafana Bafana legend Teko Modise believes the Brazilians have enough quality to get a win and that the Democratic Republic of Congo outfit have no chance to get a result.

“Just to put context to this for the fans, we have also seen how they played against Orlando Pirates, how dirty they are. It will require us to play differently, it will require a different mindset,” Modise told The Pitchside Podcast.

“When we play at home, they are not a team to match us. From a football [point of view], they won’t match us at all, even if we play with 40% they won’t match us.

“But the problem is when they play at home themselves, they will try to play dirty, they will try to play off the park," Modise said.

"We have seen the incidents, especially with no VAR, we have seen their off-the-ball incidents.

“It’s things we need to be careful of because we need our star players to still be able to perform well. They know who the star players are for Mamelodi Sundowns, and they will try to play dirty on them," Modise concluded. 

Masandawana tactician knows the importance of getting a positive result in their first game in the group.

“First match of the Group Stage, obviously, every match will have a story, but we have to write the right one on this one. First home match, a good start is important, so we will work hard and we've been working very hard since we finished the last match towards arriving tomorrow on the best conditions, at the best moment possible,” Cardoso said as quoted by CAF media.

"Most of all, we must understand how to play against this team. It has its particularities, its way of playing, its own characteristics, so that we understand how to exploit their less strong things and how to avoid that they can aggress us with the things that they have as more positive.

We remember very well what happened last year on the first game of the group stage where Mamelodi Sundowns was not able to beat Maniema at home. And from there, how that hunted a little bit the team throughout all the group stage.

"We want to make a good start. A good start is on the whistle of the referee and the players that are available and that can start that match will be, for sure, very, very strong and very powerful on going and pursuing the result we want to get," Cardoso concluded.

Coach Guy Bukasa is suspended for six CAF competitions, meaning his assistant, Yassine Salmi, will be in the dugout against Masandawana. He insists it will not be a walk in the park for the hosts.

"They are interesting. We know Sundowns very well. We have studied Sundowns well. We are not here for tourism," Salmi told the aforementioned publication.

“We come to play a simple game. At home, we take game by game. And each game is managed by all aspects. We never take one aspect and forget the other. In general, we are very specific. 

"We know very well that Sundowns has a goal for their opponents. They keep the ball and want us to be running after it. We have a different strategy. We can go straight to action and hurt them somehow," he added.

“We don’t run like that. We take action. We know Sundowns very well, not only one aspect, but many aspects. We are ready. We did our homework. We know how they play.

"We are not here as tourists. We are not here to give them the game. We are going to play to get the result," Salmi concluded.

Coach Cardoso was appointed to help Masandawana win the elusive second star after coming close severally in the previous editions.

The management has heavily invested in the squad, which gives Cardoso no reason why he shouldn't go all the way.