Head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has explained why he was unhappy with at least two players in Mamelodi Sundowns' draw against Maniema in the CAF Champions League.
The Brazilians were held to a disappointing draw at Loftus Stadium on Tuesday night with neither Sundowns nor the visiting Maniema able to find the back of the net. The point was a good one, having come into the encounter as underdogs against the 2016 CAF Champions League champions.
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While Mngqithi was not entirely unhappy with his side's performance, the 53-year-old questioned the effort of some of his players.
"I think I would have issues with one or two players that I felt did not give enough – enough effort more than anything else," Mngqithi said in the post-match press conference.
"I think the rest of the players really, really pushed very hard. I was really happy with our last line, they performed very well and our midfield…Tebza dominated his space and he did very well against Kithambala, because we wanted him to always be the recipient of balls that he tries to receive because we knew about his limitations technically and I think in that space we did very well.
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"I was very impressed with Erwin [Saavedra], he's going to help us a lot. There were a lot of very good players.
"The players were maybe I had an issue with, I had question marks on the level of effort because that's where I think most of the mistakes would emanate from.
"The rest of the squad played very well. Had we taken our chances, we would not be talking of anything in this match to be honest."
The draw leaves Sundowns in second place in Group B behind AS FAR - the only side to win their opening match in the group.
The Tshwane giants will now have turn their attention back to the Betway Premiership where they take on Sekhukhune United on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld. Kick-off is at 20:00.