Mokwena wants 'strong' placing in Group B

by Staff Reporter

Thursday Dec 15, 2022. 16:00

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has set the tough target of winning their group in the CAF Champions League proper this season.

The draw for the group stages took place in Cairo on Monday, which paired the Brazilians with Al Ahly and Al Hilal for the second year in a row alongside Coton Sport.

Sundowns have built up a rivalry with the Red Eagles in Africa’s elite club competition, with the two teams being drawn together for the fourth time in five years.

Mokwena admits the group phase is becoming harder to navigate with each passing year and anticipates their battles with the Egyptian giants to be very calculated.

“Firstly we have to recognise that there’s a lot of difficult teams that have made it into the group stages of the Champions League and over the years it has become a tough competition for all teams,” he was quoted as saying on the club’s official website.

“There is familiarity in the draw with regards to the teams from the group that we had in 2021. The number-one goal we have is to come out of the group stages strong, get as many points as we can to qualify and make it to the knockout stages.

“We fortunately already have our analysts working around the clock to gather as much information as they can [and] because over the years Sundowns versus Al Ahly has become a big fixture, we expect the games to be more strategic and tactical.”

Mokwena acknowledges the Cottoners are an unknown entity but revealed that Masandawana have been hard at work to gather as much information on them as possible.

“We have our analysts to research and get games with more recent information to get enough information for preparations. They are a competitive team and we will be thorough in preparations as we always are.”

The South African champions will get their Group B campaign underway on home soil against Al Hilal on the weekend of 11 and 12 February 2023.