Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi says his side can ill-afford to underestimate AmaZulu despite their below-par season so far.
Benni McCarthy’s side finished second last season but have so far failed to replicate their efforts last season as they occupy sixth position. Usuthu have drawn by far the most games of any side this season -12 – and picked up just four wins while suffering two losses.
McCarthy has regularly had a dig at his side saying they are the ‘new Swallows’ with the Dobsonville outfit having drawn a mammoth 20 of their games last season.
Meanwhile, Sundowns are flying high and lead the DStv Premiership standings by 14 points from second-placed Royal AM.
But despite the contrasting fortunes of the sides ahead of their clash Kings Park Stadium on Monday, Mngqithi believes Usuthu can beat anyone their day and that his team must be wary of that.
“To be honest with you, I think AmaZulu are still a very dangerous team,” said the Masandawana mentor.
“And any team in their position is wounded.
“They always want to climb, they can see the number of points from each other, it’s very, very close. So whoever wins, takes others down, so they would want to give it a fight.
“And they’ve got some quality players in [Luvuyo] Memela, [Lehlohonolo)] Majoro, [Bongi] Ntuli, [Andre] De Jong, and [Thembela] Sikhakhane’s adventurous nature of going forward makes them to be a team to tick, with [Keagan] Buchanan strong on set pieces.
“You can never take them for granted. And they still have [Thapelo] Xoki on set pieces, either on direct set pieces or with his headers.
“So they are very, very capable team to cause an upset, but be that as it may, they also have to worry about what Sundowns offers on the day.
“We believe we’ve got a team that is capable of upsetting anyone. But we can never make a mistake of thinking we are just going to walk over any opposition because at this time of the season.
“So AmaZulu are going to give us a very, very serious match and we respect that, and we also have to play the match with the same respect and the same humility, and not think we are better than anyone else.”