Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder Anthony Laffor believes that Asec Mimosas will be desperate when they meet in Abidjan for their potentially spicy Caf Champions League‚ group stages clash on Tuesday and it may work in Downs’ favour.
Asec‚ who lost 3-1 to the Brazilians last Friday night in Pretoria‚ are third in Group A with three points and they are well aware that another defeat to the Brazilians will dash their hopes of making it to the next round.
“It is going to be difficult game in their own backyard where they usually enjoy massive support‚ but then they need to come out and attack us‚” Laffor said.
“In Pretoria‚ they sat back and wanted to catch us on the counterattack but they are under pressure to win because they are at home and they want to improve their position on the log.
“If they become desperate and come all out at us‚ we could use that to our advantage. We just need to hold them in the first 20 to 30 minutes and see how the game goes.”
Later on Tuesday night at the Stade Olympique 07 Novemre‚ Wydad Casablanca will host Lobi Stars from Nigeria with the Moroccans looking to cement their place at the top of the group and enhance their chances of progressing to the next round.
“We don’t need to pay attention to what Wydad are doing but focus on the goals and objectives that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season.
“When we started on this mission a few months ago‚ the coaches gave us a task of going past the group stages and we are on course to achieving that. In my opinion‚ it really doesn’t matter if we qualify as winners of the group or as runners-up.”
Before they departed for Ivory Coast on Thursday‚ Sundowns moved to second spot on the Absa Premiership standings with impressive 3-0 victory over Black Leopards to register their biggest home win of the season.
“Coaches always talk to us about scoring and it was good to see goals on Wednesday‚ and it was also good that we did not concede‚” Laffor said.
“It was a good result‚ especially‚ after we lost two games in a row in the Nedbank Cup and in the league. The win over Leopards was important to improve our place on the log and we are at that stage of the campaign where every point is important.”
“We always do our homework on every team and we knew that they are a difficult team when they play away. The most important thing is about winning.”
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