Mvala calls on Sundowns’ experienced heads to be counted against Pyramids

Mamelodi Sundowns defender Mothobi Mvala has called his fellow experienced senior players to stand up and be counted to help the team over the line in the Champions League final against Pyramids FC. 

The Brazilians travel to Cairo for the second leg at the June 30 Stadium on Sunday with the tie evenly balanced at 1-1 from the first leg at Loftus on Saturday and a winner must be produced in Egypt. 

Downs will lift the trophy with a win or a draw of 2-2 or higher and a 1-1 draw will take the tie to a penalty shoot-out. A 0-0 draw would see Pyramids lift the trophy on away goals.

Sundowns have club and national performers with vast continental experience.

Ronwen Williams, Khuliso Mudau, Grant Kekana, Mvala, Aubrey Modiba, Themba Zwane, Teboho Mokoena, Thapelo Morena and Jayden Adams were part of the Bafana Bafana squad that finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast last year.

Chilean Marcelo Allende, Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro and Namibian Peter Shalulile have plenty of big Champions League matches under their belts.

“We need experienced players to come to the party, specially in the change room, to push the guys so we can win this game,” Mvala said. “We played Pyramids FC before and it’s not going to be an easy game because we have to get a result that side.” 

The defender, who may play a crucial role in Egypt from the bench, has recovered from a long injury layoff. Mvala has been reintegrated into the team by coach Miguel Cardoso with recent substitute appearances against Magesi FC and Chippa United in the Betway Premiership. 

Despite their success on the domestic and continental fronts, Pyramids FC do not command great support at home — giants Al Ahly and Zamalek monopolise numbers in the stands with their huge fan bases. Mvala said that could work in Downs' favour. 

“We know they don’t have too many supporters and that can work in our favour. We need to go out there and work hard from the start of the game until the end. 

“In the first leg, we started well by not allowing Pyramids to put crosses into our box. It’s just that we lost concentration in the dying minutes. We allowed that cross and we did not mark well into the box.

“This is something we need to work on for the second leg. We must kill the game off early in Cairo and to do that you need to score more goals.

“If you score three goals, you kill the game and their confidence. If you leave the score at 1-0, you leave the door open for them to come back.

“I hope when we can go that side we get at least three goals.” 

Sundowns took the lead via Ribeiro's 54th-minute strike at Loftus, but Pyramids snuck a last-gasp draw through Walid El Karti's goal deep in injury time, seconds from the final whistle.