Marumo Gallants will be looking to return to winning form in the CAF Confederations Cup, when they resume their continental safari against USM of Algeria on Wednesday. Gallants are second in Group A, one point behind the Algerians who are yet to lose a match in the competition.
Gallants completed back-to-back victories in their opening two matches of Group A in the Confederations Cup before their 2-nil defeat against USM in Algeria just over a week ago.
While their form in continental football is commendable and will see them make their way into the knockout stages of the tournament, their performance in the premier soccer league is of concern.
Gallants are rooted at the bottom of the log-standings and are likely to be relegated at the end of the season should their fortunes at home not change.
“The challenge is more about the travelling. It becomes a mental aspect; it’s not more about physicality but rather managing their mental minds of the players and boosting that confidence. And knowing that obviously the league is the important one because it is the league which has brought you to play in the Confed Cup,” Raymond Mdaka, Marumo Gallants coach.
“As players we have told ourselves that look, this has to be a take it one game at a time approach. The more we win in Confed football the better because we will gain confidence and hopefully transfer those results into the league,” says Lehlohonolo Nonyane, Marumo Gallants player.
For now, it remains a balancing act for Gallants, but soon difficult decisions will have to be made.
“I just feel like as a team, we did not start well, we had a number of challenges that we had in the league and when we got to Confed, some of the things came together well, and we were able to do well. But I cannot say that we go out there to CAF and do well, but we don’t play the same way when we come back home,” Mdaka added.
Kick off for the match is 3 o’ clock on Wednesday afternoon at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.
