Sundowns Ladies have a plan for INAC Kobe in the Women’s Cup, says coach

Tshabalala was speaking to SABC Sport ahead of the third-place battle after both teams lost their opening matches in the four-team competition. The South Africans went down to hosts Kansas City Current while Kobe fell to Spain’s Athlético de Madrid. The Sundowns Ladies mentor says he has seen some loopholes against the Japanese.

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''Kobe, a side that likes to knock the ball around, a side that turns to play with a wing play, a side that likes to play a lot of balls behind the defenders. I believe what we can capitalise on is the spaces they would leave behind the defenders and those are the moments we have to watch closely,'' said Tshabalala.

With 26 players at his disposal, Tshabalala says he is going to wring some changes for the clash against Kobe in an effort to force a win.

''It will be nice to give other players a chance to play and yes we will have a few chances in the starting line up. I believe those changes will help the team,'' added Tshabalala.

Sundowns Ladies is a team that seldom concedes first or even loses, but against KC Current they let in three goals in the first half and Tshabalala says he needs to work on the mentality of the players not to give up when such happens.

 ''We are a team that does not like to lose, and we hardly concede first. It is one of the things we need work on, I have realised that after conceding first we turn to lose focus, we need that mentality to continue and that is what I told the players that it is not how you start but how you finish,'' concluded Tshabalala

The four-time Hollywoodbets Super League title winning coach admits they were shocked by the aggressive approach of KC Current and learnt a lot from the 3-0 defeat.

 Meanwhile, midfielder Nonhlanhla Mthandi says the tournament has opened their eyes about several things, which they will try to implement going forward – but first, they are gunning for victory against INAC Kobe tonight.

 Sundowns Ladies takes on INAC Kobe at midnight tonight in the bronze medal clash, and the match will be broadcast on SABC. In the battle for gold, hosts KC Current face Athlético Madrid at 03h00 tomorrow morning.