Manqoba Mngqithi has said that he always knew that Mamelodi Sundowns would return to form after a mini slump, which resulted in them collecting only two points in three matches.
The Sundowns co-coach said this after the Brazilians humiliated Orlando Pirates 3-0 in a DStv Premiership fixture at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Sunday.
The three points earned from the match took Sundowns back to the top of the Premiership table with 51 points from 24 matches while second-placed AmaZulu have collected 50 points in the 26 games that have played.
“It’s nice to see Sundowns once again coming back with a big fight. We anticipated this. For the first time in a very long time we had a chance to have two training sessions before a match because we always play every third day. But when we got an opportunity to play on the fourth day it gave us a little bit of a chance to recover better and we know when we are fully recovered we are good enough to beat any team,” Mngqithi said.
“We must give credit to all the guys from the coaching department. All the players, they really fought. We knew how important it was. I knew we were ready psychologically, we were ready physically to really fight and we could have done better. I believe that there are some opportunities that ended up not being utilised. Credit should be given to the boys, they put up a very good fight. One is encouraged with the attitude and spirit within the group.
“But we always knew with a little bit of a break and breather we would be able to recharge our batteries and come back. We’ve got a very good team.”
The former Lamontville Golden Arrows coach revealed that the Brazilians played nine games in 29 days in April and will play more before the season ends.
“If you check from now until the end of the season, we are expected to play 20 games. It’s something unheard of to play 20 games in eight weeks. You play 20 games in something like five months,” Mngqithi said.
Meanwhile, Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer still believes that they played well despite the drubbing.
“Tough game. We knew Sundowns, they are quality. It was a really, really good game,” the German said.
