Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi offers Austria tour summary

The Brazilians spent three weeks in Europe ahead of the 2024/25 season, playing five games against SV Sandhausen, Dynamo Kiev, Cardiff City, Al Arabi SC, and Al Hilal.

Mngqithi gave a summary of their trip that yielded two defeats, one draw, and two wins. 

"To be honest, I was not even ad with the first two results because I think in the first match, the team played very badly because they were heavy – maybe it was a long trip, with activation a day after and then playing a match," said Mnqgithi.

"I think that was a little bit suicidal, that's why we were a little bit flat. But the Kiev loss, to me, was not a loss because in that match I thought our application was very good and we created a lot of good moments.

"That's when I really started seeing our structure coming in, and the work of the coaches and our conditioning department was also there because, if you watched how this team ran today, it shows we were building up.

"It would have been nice to still have one or two more games here to see how far we'd go, but we are going home with a very strong belief that the team is getting together, and in my honest opinion, I think we are almost there."

Sundowns are still sweating over the fitness of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, but Mngqithi is confident they have enough cover in that department. 

"It was also very nice to see Denis [Onyango] back because he had a hand injury, so we were not too sure whether he would be able to make today, and when he came in, he showed his class," the coach added.

"He showed his level with the save from the header of [Aleksander] Mitrovic, and also his penalty save, so we are very proud to have such a legend within our team because it shows the quality we have in the absence of Ronwen Williams."

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