Posted in News on Jan 08, 2009.
The Glamour Boys returned to training on the 2nd January and the team immediately went to a five day camp at the High Performance Centre in Tshwane.
“The camp was a resounding success - we are all very pleased with the way things turned out,” he said with a smile.
“We had an opportunity, once again, to work on our weaknesses that we identified during the first half of the season. The camp also was about getting everyone under one roof and map out clear goals ahead of what is normally a taxing second half of the season. Everyone was happy and we are ready to bounce back following our slump in December,” said Ertugral.
The Glamour Boys could not have asked to open the year with better opponents than Mamelodi Sundowns. The Brazilians are expected to come out with guns blazing following their loss against Kaizer Chiefs in the inaugural MTN8 in September last year.
On that night, Amakhosi went home with R8 million and the trophy after a penalty shootout. Ertugral told kaizerchiefs.com that game belongs to the archives and Sundowns should come more prepared than the last time they met.
“We all know Sundowns is a good team. They have a good coach in Henri Michel whom I feel should be given a chance by the club. We are not concerned about them though and we have been working on our game plan.
Conceding goals has been a biggest challenge for us.
We are hoping to tighten things up at the back. We have worked a lot on the structure of what to do when in possession of the ball. We have been creating a lot of opportunities that might have led to us forgetting about our defensive structure.
I have spoken to my players about this and everyone understands that we cannot continue giving away goals like we did during the first half of the season – and that is starting on Sunday against Mamelodi Sundowns,” he concluded.
The tickets for the game to be played at Johannesburg Stadium are already on sale at various Shoprite/Checkers and Computicket outlets around the country.