Manqoba Mngqithi believes that Mamelodi Sundowns will be ready to defend their league title when the Betway Premiership kicks off.
The new Brazilians coach oversaw a pre-season training camp in Austria where the club struggled for results.
Downs suffered losses to German third tier side SV Sandhausen and Ukranian giants Dynamo Kyiv but were able to 1-1 draw with English Championship side Cardiff City ahead of wins over Qatar Stars League team Al Arabi and Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal.
They are next in action in an MTN8 quarter-final clash at home to Polokwane City on August 11.
Reflecting on his team’s progress so far, Mngqithi explained that there have been plenty of positives despite the indifferent results.
He said: “To be honest, I was not really sad with the first two results.
“I think in the first match the team played really badly. Maybe it was a long trip and we had an activation a day after and played a match and I think it was a little bit suicidal and we were a little bit flat.
“The Kiev loss was not a loss for me because I think in that match, our application was very good and we created a lot of opportunities. That’s when I started seeing that our structure was coming in and the work of the coaches, as well as our conditioning department.
“If you look at how this team ran, it really shows you we are building up and it would have been nice to still have had one or two more games from here but we have a strong belief that the team is getting together and in my honest opinion, I think we’re almost there.”