MAMELODI SUNDOWNS beware! You may have beaten them last time around – but the team you are up against this weekend will have double motivation to get the better of you.
The Brazilians are away to Raja Casablanca for a CAF Champions League round-robin tie that marks the beginning of the second round of the group stage.
After three matches, Sundowns are second behind AS FAR Rabat on goal difference – the two teams having garnered five points each.
Raja are bottom of the table with a single point while Maniema Union are third with three points.
The Moroccans, having lost on their trip to Loftus Versfeld, will be out for revenge as they seek to resurrect their hopes of progression to the knockout stage.
That desire to get even with the South African champions will be fuelled even further by the man who will be in charge of Raja. Miguel Gamondi has since replaced Ricardo Sa Pinto as the coach of Raja and the Argentine is no doubt still smarting from a controversial decision that saw his former club Young Africans getting knocked out by the Brazilians.
In last season’s Champions League quarter-finals, Sundowns progressed via the shoot-out from the penalty spot against the Tanzania outfit following a goalless aggregate stalemate. But Yanga had what they felt was a legitimate goal ruled out after Aziz Ki’s shot appeared to have gone over the line and the referee inexplicably chose not to consult with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Gamondi was livid afterwards and even insinuated that refereeing decisions were being taken to favour the so-called bigger clubs. You can bet that feeling still lingers and only through beating Sundowns will Gamondi be appeased.
He has had some time with Raja to prepare for the match and should have plans up his sleeve to put one over a club he previously coached.
Gamondi has been brought in to resurrect a team that has incredibly fallen on hard times – Raja having had such a dominant previous campaign they completed the season unbeaten.
But this season has been wretched so far, Raja occupying the lowly eighth spot in the Botola Pro 1 with just 23 points from 16 matches – a massive 16 points behind runaway leaders RS Berkane.
A Champions League victory over Sundowns to mark the beginning of his reign will surely serve to bring about some confidence into the team and could see them working their way up the table in the domestic league.
But Sundowns are in cruise mode under new coach and Gamondi’s namesake Miguel Cardoso, who has won all his matches since taking over from Manqoba Mngqithi last month.
Cardoso was in Morocco previously and will know exactly what to expect from a Raja side he beat in the previous Champions League, as Sundowns chalked up their first victory of the group phase. It makes for an exciting clash on Saturday early evening (6pm SA time).
Later on in the day at the Orlando Stadium, Orlando Pirates will look to make homeground advantage count when they host a Stade Abidjan side they failed to beat out in the Ivory Coast.
The Buccaneers were held 1-1 at the Stade Houphouet Boigny last time around and will know only too well that their chances of progressing to the knockout phase rests largely on them pocketing maximum points from this tie.
In the CAF Confederation Cup, Stellenbosch FC will be out to register a second successive victory over Lunda Sol, whom they host on Sunday.
Stellies got their first maximum points with a late 1-0 victory in Angola and should be confident of repeating the dose to keep their chances of securing a quarter-final place alive.