Sundowns sweat on Sirino for MTN8 final

Mamelodi Sundowns hope to have playmaker Gaston Sirino back for the MTN8 final against Cape Town City at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

Sirino missed the CAF Champions League win at the weekend with illness, but co-coach Rhulani Mokwena says they are hopeful he will have recovered by the weekend.

“Gaston missed the previous game with flu, but we expect him to be back. Apart from the Lebo Maboe injury, we don’t have too many other major situations. [Mothobi] Mvala we still have to assess,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

Mokwena believes City will provide a mighty challenge and says they have arguably the most complete squad in the DStv Premiership in terms of specialist personnel per position.

“We expect a very difficult match against a very good side. When you speak of preparations and analysis, you look at two facets. The one is from a personnel perspective, and City probably have what I have say is the most complete side in terms of personnel.

“They have specialists in very position, and very good players. They are a team that wants to have a player like [Thato] Mokeke deeper, so he can initiate the build-up. He is extremely offensive and everything looks to start through him.

“Then you have [Surprise] Ralani, who for me is one of the best players in the league, and an on-form Fagrie Lakay.

“They are only second to Sundowns in relations of possession, second to SuperSport [United] in terms of efficiency on their transitions. They average seven players who create chances per match. They create the second highest number of chances in the league.

“They are a good team with a very strong attack and a lot of individual players who can influence the game on their side. We have to look at our own schemes and manipulate them to try and deal with the [City] play.”

But Mokwena says that the Sundowns players must believe they can take the game to City and trust their systems to come out on top.

“But they have got their weaknesses too, and we have a lot of very good players that will help us to look to dominate possession and play the game the way we want it to be played. We come into it with players on form and playing well.

“We feel the final has come at a good time for us and we feel confident going into a very difficult game.”