Sundowns to refresh team against Arrows due to punishing travelling schedule

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has said they will refresh the team to take on Golden Arrows in a DStv Premiership encounter at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Wednesday.

The Brazilians played to a 2-2 draw with AS Maniema of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Sunday away from home and on Tuesday they were back on the road to KwaZulu-Natal to take on unpredictable Arrows.

“There are going to be some changes to try to refresh the team, considering that we travelled and played in very harsh weather last weekend,” he said.

Opportunities may be given to players like George Maluleka, Aubrey Modiba, Sibusiso Vilakazi, Sphelele Mkhulise, Haashim Domingo, Gaston Sirino, Kermit Erasmus and Thapelo Morena, who started on the bench against AS Maniema.

“It was very humid in the DRC where most players were dehydrated and obviously we will have to make a few changes, but we are not going to tamper that much with the line-up.

“We have had some bad injuries in the past that [led] to us  changing the line-up a lot, and that put us on the back foot but fortunately we are coming into this match regaining some of those players.”

Mngqithi described Arrows as a “banana skin” and a team that is very difficult to plan against.

“Golden Arrows are always a banana skin because they are very difficult to predict. The team they used against us in the cup was changed in their next match by bringing in a little bit of stability in their midfield.

“They brought a three-man defensive and offensive midfield with Velemseni Ndwandwe, Simo Mbhele and Nqobeko Dlamini for more impact and to play behind the defence, with Pule Mmodi, Thubelihle Magubane and Knox Mutizwa always coming short to create space for the wingers.

“They are always a very difficult team to approach but we believe we have a team that is capable to deal with them. In the cup match where we beat them, they had the disadvantage of the goal that we scored in Durban but we were forced to come out.

“But we know naturally that they are a very strong transitional team.”