Mamelodi Sundowns coach, Rulani Mokwena, believes that his side will get better after winning back-to-back Caf Champions League matches against Al Hilal and Coton Sport.
A brace from Cassius Mailula and another goal by Thapelo Morena helped the visitors win their second Group B match 3-1. But despite dominating the match, Mokwena says that his side will get better.
“I thought in the first half we were very good, we played according to instructions and everything went according to plan,” Mokwena told Sundownsfc.co.za.
“We got the two goals, and then Coton Sport reacted and think [their substitutions] were good to bring intensity in midfield.”
“In the second half I think we struggled a little bit in the beginning, we were put under a lot of pressure. We will improve, we have to get better. Now we focus on recovering the team and getting ready for the difficult game against Al Ahly.”
“We will get better, we have to get better. A lot of my players were playing for the first time in the Champions League, Cassius Mailula, Teboho Mokoena, Ronwen Williams, we had Denis Onyango as the number one last season, Mothobi Mvala, Grant Kekana and Marcelo Allende.
This is the experience we’ll get and we’ll get better, it’s a very big three points.”
Sundowns’ next two matches will be against Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Mokwena insist that ten points will be enough to see his side qualify for the knockout stages.
“I’ll say again, there are four very good teams in this group, we still have games to play. We still have to host Coton Sport in Pretoria. The focus is to get as close as possible to 10 points so that we get ourselves mathematically into a position where we can think of ourselves in the quarter-finals.”
By Zola Doda
*Image courtesy of Mamelodi Sundowns.