Mamelodi Sundowns will not consider rotating their players, despite their congested fixture list, as per assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi has said.
Their hectic schedule following their 4-1 thumping of Orlando Pirates on Thursday night will see them take on Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in the Nedbank Cup semifinals on Sunday afternoon. Following that fixture, they will face a gruesome three consecutive DStv Premiership encounters against AmaZulu, Kaizer Chiefs and Golden Arrows before the end of April.
Pirates will then host Sundowns at Orlando Stadium on May 2. Given how gruesome the schedule looks on paper and the potential of how tiresome it could be for the players, one would expect that rotation would be applied in some way. However, Mngqithi says his side has no such plan and would keep on putting out their strongest lineup for each game for as much as they can.
He said: “I do not think we will rest any player for these upcoming matches. The reason why we played the team that we did against CR Belouizdad is because at the back of our minds we were already looking at these three or four matches, which was Chippa, Pirates, potentially TTM or Maritzburg if we did not go through and then AmaZulu,”.
Downs saw their 28-game unbeaten run come to an end when a largely rotated side failed to keep up the club’s usual standards as they lost 2-0 to Algerian side in the CAF Champions League.
Fortunately for the Brazilians, the match was more or less inconsequential as they had already booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the competition.
“So that’s why we took a risk of not playing most of our key players because we felt we could still get something from that match without them,” the coach added.
“We believe the group that we have must give it their best shot in the next five matches because those matches can be very critical. Maybe they can even decide our season. We will not be hoping to rest anyone. I don’t think we can think like that now, all these matches are very important to us.”
Sundowns, the league title holders, are top of the table, six points clear with two games in hand. They will also be hoping for another final and potential trophy defence as they take on their Nedbank Cup game later in the day.