The defending champions suffered a 1-0 defeat in their Group B opening match against FC Masar of Egypt.

Speaking at the post-match presser, Tshabalala emphasised on the importance of coming back strong in match day two.

"I guess for us, it's to go back to the drawing board and dig deep because we still have two more games to play and I believe that we are still in it with a chance to bounce back,” Tshabalala said.

“It's for us to show character and that we are the real defending champions and come back strong and win the last two games and go through to the semis. So, we just need to go back to the drawing board and work hard."

Sundowns were dominated right from the beginning of the match, and Tshabalala explains what let the team down in the first half.

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"For sure not a result that we wanted. We would have loved to start the tournament on a positive note, unfortunately, today, it wasn't to be but in terms of the game, I think first half we were a little bit poor in terms of how we applied ourselves,” he added.

“We allowed FC Masar to be first on the ball, we were always late on the ball, we couldn't even win even a certain ball you know but we tried to rectify that second half and come out very, very strong.

“I still believe that we could have won this game in terms of the number of chances that we created in the box. You know, 1v1 with the goalkeeper, we couldn't convert but we can't blame the girls that much."

Tshabala admits that losing the first match as defending champions is a huge setback, but the team is however capable of securing a strong comeback in the next match.

"True, it sets the tone for a tournament. Now, as the technical team, we are just going to go out and motivate the girls as hard as we can because this could also be a setback to them,” the coach explained.

“Chances are they may not even be able to pick themselves up hence we've got the technical team to say, we've got to pick them up. After picking them up, get a positive result in the next game. If we get a positive result in the next game, I believe that the mood will be back again."

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