Pressure increases on Downs ahead of Galaxy clash

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes that his side has a major responsibility to produce results in the second-half of the 2024/25 Betway Premiership campaign as the Brazilians prepare to face TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night.

Kick-off is at 7:30pm (CAT, GMT+2)

CURRENT FORM

Currently sitting at the top of the pile after 15 matches played, Sundowns are once again in the driver’s seat to clinch the Betway Premiership title this season.

The Tshwane-giants will head into their next league assignment on the back of a morale boosting 4-1 win against Orlando Pirates and opened up a nine-point lead over the Soweto giants in the process.

Prior to the game against the Buccaneers, Downs bagged nine-consecutive victories, which included convincing wins against teams such as Cape Town City, Stellenbosch and SuperSport United.

While Downs enjoy their hot-streak, the Rockets are unbeaten in their last 11 Betway Premiership games. The Mpumalanga-outfit recorded five wins and five draws during this period, which included a 1-0 win against Chippa United last time out.

As it stands, the Rockets occupy 7th position on the log, with 22 points to their name after 16 matches played.

WHAT WAS SAID

With TS Galaxy coach Adnan Beganovic eager to maintain his side’s freshness in the months to come, the Bosnian recently reserved special praises for young players at the club.

“We have a young team. We want to produce young players and then sell them at the end of the season,” Beganovic said.

“It’s our job to develop them. When we take the players [from other teams], we have a lot of work to improve them. It’s a tough but beautiful job. We enjoy to talk. We enjoy to work [with the young players].”

Reflecting on Downs’ upcoming fixture, Cardoso expressed that there is still a long way to go in their pursuit of the league trophy this season.

“Our worry is on Tuesday, we have a big responsibility because after we won against Pirates, the responsibility increased,” Cardoso said.

“We made a wonderful number of points [42] after the first half but there is a second round to play.

“I will keep on saying that the championship is far from being finished, but now each match we play we can close it more and more. But there is a long way to go, we just have a small advantage that we should respect and to do that is to give our best and the best is already on Tuesday.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

TS Galaxy: Keagan Dolly – Yet to fully establish himself at Galaxy, Dolly remains a big game player in the PSL and will look to do well against his former side this week. The technically sound attacker is particularly dangerous between the lines and will be tasked to pick holes in the Sundowns backline.

Sundowns: Lucas Ribeiro – Following his brace against Pirates, the Brazilian currently has nine goals and six assists to his name in 13 Betway Premiership games played so far. Heavily tipped to bag individual awards at the end of the season, Galaxy have the added pressure of taming one of the most in-form players in South Africa at the moment.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Last five league results:

2021/22 TS Galaxy 0-3 Mamelodi Sundowns

2022/23 Mamelodi Sundowns 0-1 TS Galaxy

2022/23 TS Galaxy 1-2 Mamelodi Sundowns

2023/24 Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 TS Galaxy

2023/24 TS Galaxy 1-1 Mamelodi Sundowns