Pitso Mosimane not relying on anyone to do Mamelodi Sundowns favours in Caf Champions League

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane is under no illusions regarding the propensity of the task at hand.

The Brazilians take on AS Togo-Port on Friday in the Caf Champions League. They most recently lost to the Togolese outfit in Lome, suffering a 1-0 defeat.

This means that Sundowns’ hopes of making it past the group stages hang in the balance.

Nonetheless, the Tshwane giants mentor is hard at work preparing his charges for the clash, and speaking at a media open day hosted on Wednesday, the 53-year-old explained the importance of victory against Togo-Port.

“We must win, nothing else,” Mosimane told the media.

“Win or go home. That’s it! It’s as simple as that. Otherwise you’ll be hoping that others lose and it’s no longer in your hands,” he added.

“It’s in our hands, we can get five points and you never know what is going to happen in Casablanca,” he warned.

“Normally, not many people come back from Casablanca (with three points). So, we are hoping that Wydad Casablanca wins (against Horoya). We win and Wydad wins, and then we can sort things out against Horoya here,” he explained.

Meanwhile Sundowns have failed to keep a single clean sheet in the Champions League group stages, conceding four goals, and Mosimane admits that their defensive frailties are a concern.

“It is a concern, because if you look at the goal we conceded against Wydad, it was a big error. In Conakry, we had the game wrapped up and we didn’t pick up (the forward) in the box, and then we conceded in Togo where the ball came off Ricardo (Nascimento) and fell for the striker,” Mosimane recalled.

“Those things do happen in football and it’s unfortunate, but you are right, on paper they are four goals,” Mosimane said.

“But I don’t know how we conceded these four goals to be honest - against Wydad and this one also. Maybe the two in Horoya we can accept and give guys credit for scoring two goals against you,” he continued.

“But I don’t think this area of defence was a threat even in Togo, let’s be honest,” he proclaimed.