Monday's hard-fought 2-1 victory over Bayelsa Queens in their Group B opener has convinced Mamelodi Sundowns' Chuene Morifi to think the CAF Women's Champions League will be more competitive this time around, compared to when they clinched the inaugural title last term.
The Brazillians ladies bagged maximum points against Queens from Nigeria, thanks to Lelona Daweti's brace, at Stade de Marrakech in Morocco. The Nigerians struck their consolation goal via Mary-Magdalene Anjor.
Sundowns take on Egyptian side Wadi Degla in their second Group B match at the same stadium tomorrow (5pm SA time).
"You can already see that it's going to be a tougher tournament than last season,'' said the 31-year-old Morifi, who operates as a central midfielder.
Sundowns had a nervy start and were also put under a lot of pressure by Queens towards the end of the tie. Morifi admitted they were a bit nervous, feeling they improved as the game progressed. She made it clear their attention is already on Wadi.
"We were a bit nervous, you could see that. We struggled a bit but as the game progressed we managed to settle in and played the way we used to. We created a couple of opportunities but we only converted two... even so we're happy with the three points in the bag,'' Morifi noted.
"There's always room for improvement. Unfortunately we don't have time to dwell much on how we played because we have another big game coming up in two days [against Wadi]. I expect the next game to be as tough as the game against Queens."
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Andile "Sticks" Dlamini spoke about the significance of bagging maximum points in the opening game of such competitions. Dlamini implied the reason they struggled to dominate was that they didn't get enough information on Queens before they faced them.
"Obviously, the first game is the most important game of the tournament. We needed to make sure we collected maximum points. It was not the easiest game and we expected the game to be as difficult as it was. We didn't get enough information about them [Queens],'' Dlamini said.
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