Mamelodi Sundowns may have to face Al Ahly in their upcoming CAF Champions League clash minus new signing Erwin Saavedra.
The 25-year-old Saavedra was taken off injured in the first-half on Saturday of their Champions League match against Sudanese outfit Al Merrikh which ended in a 0-0 draw.
This upcoming Saturday, Sundowns will be facing Al Ahly at Cairo International Stadium hoping to defeat or pick up points against coach Pitso Mosimane’s Ahly side, who are the defending champions.
The Brazilians seem to be struggling a bit in front of goal and on Saturday against Al Merrikh had 12 shots on goal but were unable to find the back of the net.
Striker Peter Shalulile continued to struggle to score goals plus with the likes of Pavol Safranko, Gift Motupa and Gaston Sirino are all doubtful starters due to injury concerns, the news that Saavedra is struggling with an injury is the last things Sundowns need heading into the Ahly clash.
🇧🇴 Erwin Saavedra has picked up an injury against Al Merreikh 🇸🇩 and has been replaced by Kutumela on the 38th minute. 🚨
— Micky Jnr ✪ (@MickyJnr__) February 19, 2022
Next match for Mamelodi Sundowns is against Al Ahly on Saturday. 👀#TotalEnergiesCAFCL #Sundowns #CAFCL pic.twitter.com/bHWPIl9ITJ
Downs co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi admits it is a concern for them that Saavedra is injured but they would need to find solutions in their big squad to deal with the Egyptian side.
“It’s just unfortunate that the Saavedra injury forced us to change the structure a little bit. That compromised our high press a bit. (Thabiso) Kutumela came on and did his best to try to help the team,” said Mngqithi.
“The reality is that we still have possibilities and depth within the squad. We’ve got to find the solutions. That’s why we are here as coaches. If we have no possibilities of using the strikers, that is the situation that is presented to us and therefore we’ve got to find different solutions to the problems.
“We worked on certain things in this break that we had, that in a different formation and structural attack, to try to see whether we could play a different way without some of our strikers.
“In the game against TS Galaxy, a friendly at Chloorkop, we worked on different schemes, different organisational forms and we were able to find a bit of joy. But it is what it is. It depends on how you want to look at it. I always say life is about perspective.
Another day to watch our Saavedra 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👆👆👆 pic.twitter.com/7D0IzISZFQ
— Odwa (@Odwa57332847) February 14, 2022
“It depends on which pair of glasses you want to use. You can look at it as a crisis, but sometimes that does not help you. When you look from the negative perspective, you are stuck in the possibilities of not even trying to find solutions. We try to be solution based leaders,” he added.
