Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rhulani Mokwena has remained upbeat that they will eliminate Esperance of Tunisia from the CAF Champions League.

Sundowns will head into Friday’s clash return leg clash on the back of a 1-0 deficit to ES Tunis. Looking ahead of the encounter in their backyard at Loftus Versfeld, Mokwena backed his side to overturn the results and advance to the final stage of the competition.

“We understand that it’s only halftime, but a halftime that we go into with a disadvantage. With commitment, enthusiasm and positivity, we know that we can overturn the result. The good thing about the second leg is that it takes place in front of our people and we want to do it for them and make them happy. We are looking excited and forward to what is going to be a very exciting game,” said Mokwena.

He added: “After watching the game, yes I still have the very same feeling. I think there were some good things that we did very well and those things were controlling certain players of the opposition, which include trying to dominate possession, trying to play a little bit higher than we would normally do, trying to defend the set pieces which we know is a big strength of the opposition and trying to control the rotations that happen on the left and right. There were things for sure that I think we could have done better and Esperance did better than us, like having constant pressure around our box.”

Looking at the statistics of two legged fixtures, Bafana Ba Style have predominantly had better second legs than first legs. When asked whether that has been a concern for his side Mokwena mentioned that it is something he has recently brought up.

He said: “it’s actually been one of my criticisms of late in our debriefs, where I get the feeling that they wait for me to help them solve problems. I’d like to see them taking a little bit more responsibility and to solve the problems while they face them instead of waiting for halftime and corrections, because sometimes it’s a little bit too late for that.”