Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 6y

Mosimane confident of beating Horoya to advance

Pitso Mosimane is banking on Mamelodi Sundowns' strong home record in the CAF Champions League as they prepare for a showdown with Guinea side Horoya for a place in the quarterfinals this year.

The Group C equation is simple going into the final round of matches on August 28, with Sundowns needing to beat Horoya by any margin to advance to the knockout stages on the head-to-head rule.

Any other result will see the west Africans go forward and provide an embarrassing early elimination for the 2016 continental champions.

"We will win against Horoya. We will win," a confident Mosimane said in quotes published on the Sundowns website. "We will meet again with Wydad, hopefully in the semifinals. Let's see what will happen. But in South Africa we win."

Sundowns have won 16 of their past 20 home matches in the Champions League, with three draws and just a single defeat, to Esperance last year. Mosimane believes his side will have too much firepower for a Horoya outfit that is likely to sit back and soak up the pressure.

"We're playing at home; when we are playing at home we are strong," he said. "We played [current champions] Wydad in South Africa and we put them under pressure for most of the match [which finished 1-1].

"We dominated Wydad in South Africa, so we have to win at home. If you don't win, you're out."

Sundowns lost 1-0 to Wydad in Morocco in their latest group game on Friday night, part of a poor pool stage campaign for the side that has yielded just a single win in their five matches to date.

Mosimane said that despite the result, he is pleased with the application being shown by his side.

"I am happy with my team but I am not happy with the results. We achieved our objectives of making them [Wydad] play long balls. We dealt with the long balls properly.

"They are a good team. They are the champions. But we are also a good team. We came here to play."

Sundowns lifted the Champions League trophy in 2016, but they have lost key elements of that side through the subsequent transfer windows, including Keagan Dolly, Percy Tau and Khama Billiat.

They lost in the quarterfinals last season, when they were ousted on penalties by Wydad.

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