Sundowns coach Mngqithi worried about pitch, timing in Carling final

Mamelodi Sundowns will be heavy favourites to brush aside top-flight rookies Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout final, but coach Manqoba Mngithi admits two levellers could be the pitch at Free State Stadium and his team losing players in the build-up due to the Fifa break.

Downs secured Mngqithi his first cup final as sole head coach of the club, beating Marumo Gallants 2-0 in Sunday’s semifinal at Dr Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Magesi continued their dramatic run in the competition, seeing off Richards Bay away in Durban in their semifinal on Saturday.

Clinton Larsen’s battlers, who shocked Orlando Pirates in the opening round then got past last year’s losing finalists TS Galaxy in the quarters, will take any levellers they can get in the November 23 final.

Mngqithi said he will relish the atmosphere created by the renowned football supporters in the Free State capital, who have been starved of top-flight football since Bloemfontein Celtic were sold to Royal AM in 2021.

Marumo, formerly based in Limpopo, bought the Premiership franchise of Moroka Swallows in the off-season and relocated to Bloemfontein, where they have been enthusiastically adopted by the city’s football fans.

Downs’ coach, though, expressed mild concern that the pitch at the Free State Stadium, a rugby venue, is not as good as the surface at Dr Molemela Stadium, a football venue.

“It’s always nice to play in Bloemfontein because of the atmosphere you get,” Mngqithi said.

“It’s just I’m not sure of the quality of the pitch at the venue where the final will be played. Because I think this pitch [at Dr Molemela] was much better, based on the history I have of these stadiums.

“Otherwise I like this environment because you are guaranteed supporters. Whoever you are playing against, Celtic supporters will always come. I really like the way they have embraced Marumo in the city.”

Downs will also have 10 players away during the coming Fifa break — eight of them in the Bafana Bafana squad that needs a win from their last two matches away against Uganda on Saturday or at Cape Town Stadium against South Sudan on November 19 to reach the next Africa Cup of Nations.

This means Mngqithi will have his full squad to work with, after a day’s travel and rest on November 20, from November 21, so can only incorporate his national team stars in training for the Thursday and Friday before the Saturday final.

The Fifa break will not disadvantage Magesi as they don’t have national team players to lose in their preparations.

“Eight is an understatement because we will also have Peter Shalulile with Namibia and Divine Lunga with Zimbabwe,” Mngqithi said, asked about losing his Bafana stars in the build-up.

“I don’t think the area where the final is put is fair for anyone — not immediately after a Fifa break.

“We are playing Sekhukhune [in the league on November 30] — we could have put the final there and maybe it would have been better.

“But what can you do? You have to make do with what you have and accept that disadvantages and blessings always go together.

“Sometimes you will blame the league for putting the final there, but they also put it there without the knowledge that we would be in the final.”

Sunday’s scoreline flattered Sundowns. Coach Dan Malesela’s Gallants perhaps shaded the chances, conceding from a soft penalty for handball (slotted by Lucas Ribeiro in the 53rd minute) and then a final-seconds second strike by substitute Neo Maema in the 94th.

Mngqithi praised Marumo as a “very good team”.

“I know in South Africa sometimes you look at the stature of the side and not really the detail in performance. I don’t think they were in the semifinal by mistake.”