Mpheni Home Defenders confident of upsetting Mamelodi Sundowns in Nedbank Cup

The Limpopo-based club from Elim is making its second appearance in the Ke Yona tournament after reaching the last 16 in 2022, but fell to Chippa United.

Club chairman and head coach Vhutshilo Phuravhathu says the prospect of upsetting one of Africa’s football giants is a major source of motivation for his team.

"For us, this is the most important game in our history to find ourselves playing against the African giants – it's very important for the boys, they don't need any motivation," said Phuravhathu.

"Already they are motivated that they are playing against Mamelodi Sundowns, they are also motivated by the fact that it's the only game on Sunday and that we [could be] the only team from the lower leagues to beat Sundowns in their history.

"I'm a coach that believes any team is beatable on any day, and even Mamelodi Sundowns can be beaten on any day, and there are teams that respect Sundowns more and that's the reason they are not able to compete with them.

"But if you go there and compete, chances of you being able to come out with a good result is higher than not coming out to compete."

Phuravhathu says Sundowns’ hectic schedule gives them an opportunity to capitalise should the game go beyond regulation time.

"This is a team that is playing more games in the league – because I was looking at their schedule already, they are going to play TS Galaxy before they play us on the 16th," he noted.

"So you can see their schedule is very, very tight, which means they are not training enough – they only go for recovery, and then preparation for the game.

"So that's a team that, if you can take them to 90 minutes or beyond on a draw, I think they can be caught having heavy legs when we go to extra-time because of the number of games they are playing and competitions they are participating in."

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