Chippa United plan to upset unstoppable Sundowns

Chippa United are boldly plotting to upset defending DStv Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns when the sides meet at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday (7.30pm).

The Gqeberha side have endured a slow start to the second half of the season playing to a 1-1 draw against Stellenbosch in their first match after the restart, followed by a 2-0 defeat to Moroka Swallows on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Brazilians have been almost unstoppable and enjoy a 10-point lead in the league after their recent 2-0 win over Richards Bay.

Chippa defender Abdi Banda, 27, is aware they will go into Tuesday’s fixture as underdogs, but he is confident the Chilli Boys can take the heat.

“We know how Sundowns are going to play and we are ready for whatever they will throw at us on Tuesday,” Banda said.

“We want to surprise them, we want to win and score goals in the new year.

“We can’t lose two games in a row, so on Tuesday we want to score our first win for 2023.

“We know people will be behind Sundowns, they will be betting for them to win, but you know in football anything can happen,” he said.

“It will be 11 against 11 players on the field, so we don’t care what people say, we are going there to fight for results.”

The Chilli Boys have dropped out of the top eight and are now in ninth place on the log with 19 points from 15 games.

But, the Tanzanian international said it was too soon to panic.

“Yes, we have had a slow restart with a draw and a loss,” the defender said.

“After the defeat against Swallows, we had a meeting and spoke about our mistakes and where we needed to improve as a team.

“It’s still too early in the league to start panicking.

“Yes, we didn’t get any results in the past two games and now we are going to play against one of the big teams in the PSL.

“When you are playing against Sundowns or any one of these big teams you know it’s going to be a big game, but we are going to play our normal game,” Banda said.

“We respect them, they are coming off a win, but we are going to play them like any other team in the league.

“When playing against a big team like Sundowns, we don’t need any motivation, because everyone knows what to expect, how they are going to play and how the atmosphere will be at the stadium.

“The only motivation for us is that we know we have to fight for results, so we will go there to fight and get a result,” he said.

The last time the two sides met, the Chilli Boys lost 1-0 to Sundowns.