Prior to a busy month of campaign preparation for the upcoming 2022–23 season, Mamelodi Sundowns returned to preseason training at the beginning of the month.
Bafana Ba Style officially left on vacation following their parade in Tshwane for four weeks after a gruelling season that saw them battle on all fronts till the very end. Masandawana returned to Chloorkop on July 1 to undergo medical evaluations in preparation for the upcoming season. The players and technical team arrived on the field the following Monday for their first field session in full gear before continuing to practise for a week at their respective home facilities.
“The first week of our Pre-season [included] intense testing. The work that is done by not just our medical department but also from the conditioning department in assessing the players’ physiology and the physical readiness of the players to take part in full team training, we were very satisfied with that and the information that we received was very good.” Briefly explained The Brazilians’ co-coach, Rulani Mokwena.
Downs made their way to Royal Marang in Rustenburg in their next phase of pre-season preparations which will begin on August 6, with the Tshwane derby in the MTN8. “The camp in Marang gives us a lot of possibilities, we are not people that train in isolation or train different elements or factors that contribute to the performance. From day one already we were working with the physical aspects, but already introducing a new tactical and technical concept that we’d like to work on and to improve.” Said Coach Rulani.
“These were ideas that we had already from last season, there were things that we felt we had the condition to be better at, but maybe we didn’t have the possibility. Now that we have a bit of time to train and to prepare the team, we focus a lot more on the tactical aspects and try to make sure that we prepare the team in that regard because during the season we don’t have the time to prepare and train.”
On Saturday, July 23, in KwaZulu-Natal, Masandawana will play a preseason friendly game against Richards Bay FC as part of the annual Prince Mangosuthu Legacy Cup semifinal.