Rulani rates Sundowns' cup foes City as one of the most dangerous teams offensively in the PSL

Cape Town City are one of the most dangerous teams offensively that you can face in a cup final, Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena said ahead of the two teams' clash in the MTN8 final in Durban on Saturday.

Mokwena mentioned a number of City players he believes the Brazilians should pay attention to if they're to win their first top eight trophy since 2007.

“This is a game of the bigger consequences, it's a cup final,” Mokwena said of the match, which will be watched by 2,000 people, the first domestic tie to have fans since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in SA in March 2020.

“We know that Cape Town City are a very, very good side. They've got one of the best attacks in the league having scored so many [nine in the league and six in the cup] goals.

“And because of that it's very easy to analyse who City are. A team that's very strong offensively, gives you different problems.

“It's an attack that says, 'We're able to play on transition'. If you look at the first goal they scored against Golden Arrows [4-3 win in the league] in one moment [Arrows striker] Knox Mutizwa has the ball and then five seconds later Craig Martin is laying the ball off for [Fagrie] Lakay.

“Five seconds, one pass from [Idumba] Fasika, the centre back, the No.4, over the top to Martin to lay off and the ball is in the net. So it's a team that can hurt you on transition.

“They've got the speed, they've got the second best transitional stats, second only to SuperSport where a lot of their counterattacks end up as shots at goal. 

“But also they've got an ability to hurt you on possession. They've got eight players who are always looking to have on average 50 ball contacts.

“They have more possession than any other team in the league except Mamelodi Sundowns. 

“So it's a team that you've got to be ready to deal with in zone 1 on your high press, to deal with in zone 2 of your medium to low block and to deal with in zone 3 — if you sit a bit back and try to absorb the pressure you know that they can find spaces in between.

“With players like [Mduduzi] Mdantsane and [Surprise] Ralani, City are a very difficult team to play against. And even in that space away from the global context of team tactics they have individuals who are able to dribble out of tight situations.

“So a difficult team with very good players and a very good technical team. So we've got our work cut out and we've worked very hard [on matching them].

“Eric [Tinkler] is a coach who's got immense experience in leading teams into cup finals.

“He's done it so many times. We have a lot of respect for him but it got nothing to do with Eric on whether we've beaten him before or not [in the past].

“It's a different game with a different context. It is 11 vs 11 and we just get to pitch and make sure we play the game with the right intensity and mental attitude.”