Mngqithi praises fatigued Sundowns in goalless draw against AS Maniema

The Downs mentor instead looked at the positives – that his charges were able to contain the stubborn visitors without their strongest line-up.

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Mngqithi, who made six changes from the Carling Knockout defeat at the weekend, explained why he was satisfied with the outcome.

''I think we gave a very good account of ourselves, it was not easy from making the line up, the tactics and everything else in trying to prepare for this game. One we did not have time and most of our players were loaded physically we felt we might end up having injuries. So it is a win for us that we didn't get injuries, it means we still have our full squad. 

I think we controlled the game very well, we got ourselves into good positions, unfortunately not to score goals, because in the Champions League you have to try and win home matches. Many people are not aware that we played against a very good team, unfortunately they could not show how good they are because they relied more on transitions in this game. And I think we controlled the ball very well, we did not lose too many balls,'' said  Mngqithi.

The Sundowns mentor felt strongly that they were always in control against a team he feels will be a surprise package in the Champions League.

''We made the game to favour us by controlling almost all football actions, the only thing that we did not do in my opinion I think is to score goals. Had we scored goals we would be very happy because it is one of those games where you have given the opponents almost nothing. I must reiterate that this is a very good team, we have watched a lot of their matches locally and internationally and I can tell you that in this group this team is going to be a very big problem to everybody else. But I am very confident that we will do very well against them in their homeground,'' added  Mngqithi.

Asked for his assessment of the forced rotation in his starting team, Mngqithi admitted there were a few players that did not rise to the occasion.

''I think I would have issues with one or two players that I felt maybe they did not give enough effort, but the rest of the players really push very hard. Very happy with our last line in the midfield, Tebza did very well. The players maybe I have issues with, I had questions on the level of effort and intensity but the rest of the players played well,'' he expressed.

Mngqithi added he was confident Sundowns would improve in the group with fixtures against AS FAR and Raja Casablanca also still to come.