Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane bemoans Telkom Knockout Cup schedule

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane expects a tough Telkom Knokcout Cup Last 16 encounter against Bloemfontein Celtic on Saturday, 20 October.

'Jingles' has made their intentions clear in the competition currently held by Bidvest Wits, but he remains wary of their schedule because cup games will clash with their Caf Champions League programme.

"It's obviously going to be a difficult game. Cup games are always a little bit of a problem for us. If you look at the top eight, it clashed with the Caf Champions League,” Mosimane said as quoted by VodacomSoccer.

"You saw that we had different line-ups when we played in Cape Town and home in the semifinal of the MTN8 Cup, that had an effect on the result,” he added.

The Brazilians were bundled out of the Wafa Wafa tournament by champions Cape Town City in a two-legged semi-final clash and will now want to do better in the Telkom Knockout Cup.

They now have to deal another congested fixture schedule with continental football getting underway next month.

This comes after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) made changes to continental club football calendar where both the Champions League and Confederation Cup will commence next month until June next year for the first time in history.

"The Telkom Knockout clashes with the Champions League that's about to start in a few weeks' time. That also has an effect on us,” continued the 2016 African champion.

"We are two games behind in the league in terms of our schedule and there are also international games. To play against a team that nearly won this competition last year, a revived team, will be difficult," concluded the Masandawana coach.

Despite winning the PSL title last season, the Tshwane side last won a domestic cup competition during the 2015/16 campaign when they defeated Kaizer Chiefs 3-1 at Moses Mabhida Stadium in the final of the TKO Cup.

Amakhosi were coached by Steve Komphela, who is now in charge of Phunya Sele Sele, and the two friends will renew their rivalry at the Lucas Moripe Stadium next weekend.