Mosimane praises Wits’ Confed Cup qualification

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane is proud of Gavin Hunt and Bidvest Wits for their progress in the Caf Confederation Cup.

The Students qualified for the group stages of the continental competition for the first time in their history earlier in November.

They will now line up in the Group B of the second-tier Caf tournament alongside Djoliba AC of Mali, Guinean champions Horoya AC and El Nasr from Libya when the competition begins in December.

Wits have regularly made the qualifying rounds of the competition, but a lack of hunger, mainly due to finances, meant they never took it seriously and were also bundled out early. Sundowns, on the other hand, were Africa’s club champions as recently as 2016 and they continue to take the competition seriously.

This time around they have been drawn in Group C for Caf’s premier club competition, alongside USM Alger (Algeria), Petro de Luanda (Angola) and Wydad Casablanca (Morocco).

They are currently enjoying the FIFA break following a run of poor domestic form. Mosimane says injuries are hampering them.

Mosimane was speaking a little over a week ago when his Sundowns side suffered a surprise loss to Lamontville Golden Arrows in the Absa Premiership – their third straight game without victory.

The Brazilians’ boss believes that apart from injuries, the hectic domestic schedule was also hampering his side, which was ultimately leading to the injuries in his squad.

The reigning league champions are back in action in the Telkom Knockout semi-finals this week Sunday, also away at Arrows, and their coach is hoping to have most of his key players back by then.

Sundowns begin one of their busiest periods of the year when they travel to Durban for their Telkom Knockout semi-final against Arrows on Sunday.

The match is the first of nine potential games (eight guaranteed) within the space of 34 days.

– Report by Thahir Asmal