Marcelo Allende and Abubeker Nasir are giving Mamelodi Sundowns coaches a pleasant headache after they made dream starts to their Sundowns career.
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Nasir and Allende have both played two games off the bench and managed to score each time they came on, clearly putting their hands up for starting berths at the star studded side.
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Downs co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi says the technical team might consider naming the new arrivals in the starting line-up against Matsatsantsa A Pritori on Friday night.
“Starting them would not be … because of their good performances, it would probably be based on the processes that we are following in terms of the number of minutes that we think they can play,” said Mngqithi.
“If we feel they are ready to give us the 90 minutes, we might decide to start them. It was never an issue of whether they can start the match or not … it was mainly an issue of how far they can go in a match.
They have played two matches as substitutes and the possibility of both or one of them starting is there. But we will have to see what happens in our match day minus one training session,” he added.
Like a cheerleader, Mngqithi went on to heap praise on the new Downs stars for basically walking into a well-oiled machine and making an immediate impact – something most players have failed to do.
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“We saw a lot of matches where Nasir was playing, we know that he is the type of player we have been looking for in terms of what will help us in our attacking play. We must also congratulate them to be able to get into a team with so much pressure and do well,” he said.
“It is not easy for all these players to join this group of players and not lose their confidence but come in with a positive self-esteem with the belief that they can make it. It is always difficult for any player at Sundowns to be guaranteed to play.”
