During the semi-final of the MTN8 2026 tournament, which took place in the first match at Lucas Moriphe Stadium, Mamelodi Sundowns defender Obrey Modiba urged the team to quickly overcome the setback suffered against AmaZulu before the Betway Premier League match on Wednesday.
Sundowns suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday when Golden Arrows won the first MTN8 semi-final match at Lucas Moriphe Stadium. Although the Brazilians dominated a significant part of the game, they failed to overcome Abafana Bes'tende's defense and conceded a goal from Sedie Dion in the second half.
Modiba believes that positive aspects can be drawn from the performance, but insists that Sundowns cannot afford to dwell on the result, as another important match lies ahead. He stated: 'The game against AmaZulu is never easy, of course, but now we need to shift our focus to the league game because we obviously lost to Arrows, but we take the positive aspects from this league game.'
The defeat requires work from Sundowns in the second game, but their immediate focus is on maintaining a strong start to the league campaign. Modiba emphasized that one of the goals at the Sundowns camp is to prevent one defeat from turning into a string of bad results. 'At Sundowns, we always try not to lose consecutively, so we must recover and earn all three points.'
AmaZulu will present another challenge at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, but the home game also gives Sundowns an opportunity to respond to their fans. Modiba believes that securing maximum points at home will be critically important if the Brazilians want to seriously contend for the Betway Premier League title.
Sundowns started their home league season with a victory over Marumo Gallants, and Modiba hopes to replicate this performance against Usuthu. He noted: 'If you look at the last home league game, we performed well, and I hope we can repeat that performance.'
Although the MTN8 semi-final remains uncertain, Sundowns faces a busy week during which they need to react to the first defeat before refocusing on Arrows. However, for Modiba, the immediate goal is clear: to put the league campaign back on track by winning three points at Loftus.