Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 7y

Mosimane laments Sundowns' drab St George draw

Mamelodi Sundowns' exploits in traversing the African continent and the globe over the last 12 months appears to be finally catching up after a poor display lacking in energy in a home 0-0 draw against St George in the African Champions League at the weekend.

Many of the Sundowns players appeared to be going through the motions, unable to summon the energy to build sustained pressure on their Ethiopian visitors through the 90 minutes. It is a performance that had been coming, they have been looking more and more fatigued as the weeks roll by after a hectic schedule that has seen them play 13 matches since April 1, and that with a growing injury list.

For coach Pitso Mosimane, there is a desperate need to freshen things up as his side also look to retain their domestic league title in the next two weeks as well. 

"This performance will not win you the Champions League. I think that we have forgotten that we are the defending champions‚" Mosimane said of his players.

"Maybe teams now know us‚ but there was no football [played]. This was a Sunday League game. A nice Sunday game for over 30s.

"I don't think that it was difficult. With a month's training session‚ I could have put my boots back on and played. I could have done something."

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the 54-year-old's team will only have to wait a little over a week for redemption with a visit to Kinshasa to face AS Vita Club on May 23. Mosimane believes that challenge will bring the best out of his players, and is expecting a 'warm welcome' from their hosts.

"I think that's what they [his players] want‚ to go to Kinshasa‚" Mosimane said. "That's where the drive is. They know what's going to happen there. I think there they will roll up their sleeves and do well. I know my team.

"I think they want the difficult ones. These ones [against St George]‚ I don't know. It will be tough there. It's not tough because the team is good. It's tough because the mentality is totally different.

"They [Vita Club] like to take us to an artificial pitch‚ the pitch that they aren't using now. But when we come‚ they say we will take these 'cheese boys' to an artificial pitch. We played well in that artificial pitch last year."

Vita Club ousted Sundowns from the Champions League competition last season, but the South African side were reinstated to the pool phase after their opponents were found to have used an ineligible player in the earlier rounds. Sundowns went on to win the trophy, lift the African Super Cup and represent the continent at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.

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