Mamelodi Sundowns omitted three key players from their away trip to Golden Arrows on Wednesday night as caution, the Siya crew understands.
Mamelodi Sundowns omitted three key players from their away trip to Golden Arrows on Wednesday night as caution, the Siya crew understands.
The club confirmed prior to their DStv Premiership match against the KwaZulu-Natal outfit that Lebo Maboe, Rushine De Reuck, Devine Lunga and Mothobi Mvala were not available – but there was no explanation for the absence of Grant Kekana, Rivaldo Coetzee and Lyle Lakay, who are regulars in the starting line-up.
Indications are that the technical team took the decision to avoid risking suspensions ahead of the MTN8 final next weekend against Cape Town City.
Kekana missed the first leg of their CAF Champions League group stages play-off away to AS Maniema Union in Kinshasa through a niggling injury and it’s believed he had not fully recovered to face Arrows.
But Coetzee and Lakay currently sit on three yellow cards in the domestic league, meaning another caution would have ruled them out of the big fixture at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, a risk the technical team were not prepared to take.
So is De Reuck, but as he’s hurt, he wouldn’t have played anyway.
The hope is that those on the injury list, with the exception of Maboe, who is unlikely to feature this season following surgery at the start of the campaign, will return for the second leg against Union on Saturday afternoon.
But should that not be the case, then the medical team would work tirelessly to have them ready, or at least as options, for the MTN8 final.
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