With six notable players listed as non-starters because of injuries, most soccer managers might be inclined to experience a succession of sleepless nights before a crucial top-of-the-log encounter.
Not so Sundowns’ Neil Tovey as he fine-tunes his squad for ”the battle in front of unlocked doors” against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday night.
”We were faced with 10 injured players only a few days ago,” said the Sundowns coach. ”Now with Michael Manzini, Clement Mazibuko, Reagan Noble and Tshiamo Seneo all reporting fit, it’s no problem at all choosing a squad that is capable of taking on Chiefs — and hopefully beating them.”
Still non-starters from training at the inflated Sundowns’ headquarters are Godfrey Sapula, Lerato Chabangu, Antonio Trigo, Brian Baloyi, Paulos Masehe and Soga Sambo.
But Tovey believes he has more than enough talent for the game that was initially due to be played behind locked doors four months ago as a result of punishment meted out to Chiefs by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) disciplinary committee after the crowd mayhem at a cup game against Bloemfontein Celtic.
Chiefs, it will be recalled, stone-walled the punishment, had the Sundowns game postponed after taking the matter to the high court and now face the prospect of playing in front of a bumper crowd as a result of an amiable arbitrator’s approach to crowd violence.
And Tovey says he is unperturbed by all these goings-on. ”We were prepared to play Chiefs behind locked doors when the PSL ordered it,” he added, ”and we’re equally geared up to take them on in front of what will hopefully be a packed FNB Stadium.”
Adding spice to this intriguing clash is the fact that log leaders Sundowns are making a concerted effort to rekindle their glory days of the late 20th century when they won the PSL title on three successive occasions — and dethrone Chiefs, who have been champions for the past two seasons, in the process.
And while Sundowns have not beaten Chiefs in a PSL fixture for five years, Tovey says this is simply a statistic that will have no bearing on the outcome of Wednesday’s game. — Sapa