Sundowns up against it

Kaizer Chiefs, Bidvest Wits and Ajax Cape Town are all in comfortable positions as they look to complete their tasks at home, leaving only Sundowns to sweat over their continued participation in continental play.

Pitso Mosimane’s expensively-assembled squad trail Zimbabwean champions Chicken Inn 1-0 after a limp performance in Bulawayo a fortnight ago.

They failed to break down their opponents with barely a sniff on goal, and were expertly picked apart on the counter-attack for a first loss in 19 matches in all competitions.

Expect similar tactics from the visitors at the Lucas Moripe stadium tonight with Mosimane predicting his side will have to try and get through 11 players for most of the game.

‘‘Obviously the bus is going to be parked, I can guarantee you that,” he told reporters.

“We will need to move around it. We need two goals to win. We need more resources and the right mentality. We need to push.

‘‘They’re Zimbabweans. They’re quick off the mark. They’ll try to catch us on a counter-attack. It’s a risky game. We need to bring the ball up.”

Sundowns were without key man Khama Billiat in the first leg after he pulled up with a hamstring problem, but the Zimbabwe international has since returned to action and will boost their attacking armoury.

They are, however, sweating on the fitness of Colombian forward Leonardo Castro, who has been in great goal-scoring touch but missed the midweek 2-1 league victory over Mpumalanga Black Aces.

It suggests a possible start for another of Sundowns’ Zimbabwean contingent, last season’s leading scorer Cuthbert Malajila, who has found opportunities harder to come by this campaign.

Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas told reporters this week that he had two worries ahead of the game – firstly that his players might over-indulge themselves in Pretoria and secondly that the team has never before played a fixture under floodlights.

“We’re here on a mission. We’re not on holiday. We should think professionally,” he said. “We have a job at hand. We’re here on serious business. You need to be focused on the task we have.”

He also confirmed his side would be adopting a counter-attacking game-plan.

Rather charitably, Sundowns have allowed Chicken Inn to use their own Chloorkop training facility to work under floodlights and get used to playing at night.

The team had hoped to train under floodlights at their Barbourfields Stadium home in Bulawayo, but were quoted $4000 (R64000) per hour by the local municipality to have them switched on.

Kaizer Chiefs are expected to field a strong team despite their 4-0 aggregate lead over Comoros side Volcan Club, who they play at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Chiefs have a Nedbank Cup last 32 clash against bitter rivals Orlando Pirates next Saturday and the last thing coach Steve Komphela needs now is injuries to key players.

Ajax hold a 2-1 advantage over Angolan side Sagrada Esperanca from their away leg in the African Confederation Cup and it would be a surprise were they to lose at the Athlone Stadium.

Finally, Bidvest Wits will field a weakened team when they host Seychelles side Light Stars this evening. Wits lead 3-0 from the first leg and will expect an even more comfortable result at home.