New Mamelodi Sundowns defender Rushine De Reuck has been registered for the Caf Champions League and is available for selection, co-coach Rhulani Mokwena has revealed.
The newly-signed defender had his first session with the club on Tuesday and according to Mokwena, he is in contention for the Brazilians' opening Group Stage encounter against Al Hilal Omdurman of Sudan on Saturday.
“De Reuck started training this week. He trained with us officially on his birthday,” Mokwena told the media.
“And‚ yeah‚ he’s registered for Caf, his medical situation has been resolved and he should be available for selection."
The 25-year-old Bafana Bafana defender is the latest acquisition of the Tshwane giants, signing a long-term deal from Maritzburg United.
Next Match
Mokwena also revealed that they have done their homework on the Sudanese side and maintains they are not expecting an easy ride as he believes that Seed al-balad will prove a tough nut for the South African champions to crack when they meet at Loftus Versfeld.
''Like always, we always try to be extremely thorough with our preparation,'' the former Orlando Pirates coach added.
''We got the responsibility to ensure that we provide the players with as much information as possible.
''I always say that preparation eliminates fear, and when you can go into the match as football players with the right amount of information about the opposition, it allows you to be free in expressing your way of wanting to play.
''We've to go certain principles with our game model but of course, those principles are always adapted to the profile of the opposition.
''And Al Hilal are not a closed book to us because we've watched even their qualifiers in Caf against Asante Kotoko. The 1-0 win away from home, we watched the recent competition they participated in with Mazembe and Simba where they participated, and we watched that.
''Unfortunately in that moment, they were without a couple of important young players with the Sudanese national team that went to Chan, they not a part of that tournament but we also had to look at them.
''That helped us to profile some of the players we were not able to see within a team context and we saw a couple of very good individual performances from them in Chan.
''Of course, their league is ongoing... and already from a competitive perspective, those already tell you, in terms of the data, how competitive they are.''
This will be the side's first meeting since 2008, in the same competition, and kick-off is scheduled for 18:00 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
