Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder Neo Maema has revealed the reasons behind his side’s struggles in cup competitions.
In recent seasons, the Buccaneers have been the dominant force, securing three MTN8 titles and two Nedbank Cup trophies, while Stellenbosch FC claimed the Carling Knockout Cup.
On the other hand, the Brazilians have been superior when it comes to the league title, winning it seven times in a row.
While they also won African Football League last season, they were defeated by the Buccaneers in the two cup finals (MTN8 and Nedbank Cup).
Maema admitted that it bothers them as a team that they haven’t been doing well in cup tournaments space.
However, he insisted that there’s no significant issue behind this.
NEO MAEMA SAYS THE TEAM IS CONCERNED WITH STRUGGLES IN CUP COMPETITIONS
“It’s obviously [bothering us], I’ll start by saying me personally, I don’t like it and as a team,” said Maema.
“It bothers us because we are very consistent when it comes to games. We try our best to win every single game.
“And when it comes to cup competitions, we just fall short which is something that happens in football.
“But we also want to win domestic cups, we don’t want that to linger in the back of our minds that cup competitions, we are unable [to win them] or we just can’t.”
He added, “I don’t think there’s anything missing at Mamelodi Sundowns.”
“We have the players, we have the technical team, we have the board, the management that support us so much.
“It’s just for us to make sure that we try our best as players, to go to the field, starting with Golden Arrows making sure that we taking one game at a time.
“And because it’s a competition, make sure that we don’t run out of legs since it’s the beginning of the season when it comes to the number of games that we are playing.
“So as we’re start now, we make sure that we keep the games as 90 as possible, obviously anything happens in football but make sure that we wrap everything up in 90 minutes.”
