MAMELODI Sundowns MultiChoice Diski coach David Notoane says he wants to give all his players a run when Downs tackle PEC Zwolle in a friendly match at Mac Park Stadium tonight (7.30pm).
This will be Masandawana’s first match since arriving in the Netherlands for their weeklong tour as part of their reward for winning the Absa Premiership reserve league. The squad of 18 players arrived on Saturday minus lanky striker Thabang Sibanyoni, who was one of their key players throughout the season.
Sibanyoni netted eight goals before sustaining a knee injury which has now seen him sidelined for more than three months.
The Young Brazilians will use the Zwolle friendly to adapt to the cold, wet weather conditions in the Netherlands as well as to prepare for Thursday’s MultiChoice International Challenge, set to be played for the first time this season. Notoane is concerned, however, that the weather conditions might prove to be problematic for his lads.
This is the only friendly match they will play before the one-day tournament on Thursday, which will feature SBV Excelsior (Netherlands), KAA Gent (Belgium) and Chinese side Ichifunan FC.
He said: “This game will give me a good idea of the psychological state of the team. We are excited but this cold weather might have a bad impact on the boys. We have our tournament on Thursday and everything we are doing now is to prepare for it.
“I’m looking forward to giving everyone a run so they can get a feel of playing against Dutch players. We expect a tough encounter from them, as they always give SA teams a hard time.”
In the history of the Netherlands tour no SA team has defeated Zwolle. Zwolle drew 2-2 with 2014-15 MDC champions University of Pretoria and defeated then-champions Golden Arrows 3-1 last season.
Notoane is worried that they are still lacking firepower up-front: “We are still short of a goal poacher. Sibanyoni’s absence worries me but we will fight on without him. It is an opportunity for someone like Tebogo Reed, who just returned from his loan period at Black Leopards. We also have Keletso Makgwala who is capable of doing the job.”
) SunSport’s Mthokozisi Mkhonza is in the Netherlands as a guest of SuperSport.
