The Nedbank Cup semifinal clash between the two in form sides Royal AM and Mamelodi Sundowns is dubbed as the final before the final and fireworks will be expected.
Royal AM coach John Maduka is excited to face Sundowns after his side from 2-0 down to beat GladAfrica Championship side
University of Pretoria 3-2 in a five-goal thriller at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday.
For Maduka there will be an element of revenge as when he was coach at Bloemfontein Celtic, Sundowns narrowly edged his side 1-0 in the 2020 Nedbank Cup final, and then later that year the decider of the MTN8.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s a good one. We know it’s not going to be easy. I think it doesn’t matter who we play against in the semifinals, anything can happen,” said Maduka.
“And it’s our home game. We will prepare well; we are going to compete and try to take us into the final. I am sure it is going to be a very interesting match, we just hope on that particular day the [weather] conditions and the condition of the field is good.”
The KwaZulu-Natal outfit has built a reputation for netting several goals late and Maduka said he always optimistic they would make a comeback in the Nedbank quarter-final game against AmaTuks after trailing 2-0 at halftime.
“We knew we would come back, we started the game very slow and it was expected because we were coming from back-to-back games. We knew we would start picking it up.”
