Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates continued to set the pace at the top of the Betway Premiership table, but turned their attention to continental football this weekend.
The Brazilians maintained their lead with a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing of Richards Bay in Durban, while Pirates turned on the style in the second half to register a 3-0 win over TS Galaxy in Soweto.
These victories provide the much-needed morale boost for them ahead of the final round of Champions League qualifiers this weekend, where Pirates are away to African Stars of Namibia in Botswana on Saturday.
On Sunday, Sundowns travel the road to Wiliete of Angola, while Kaizer Chiefs travel to Red Arrows in Zambia on Saturday, and Durban City host Port Louis of Mauritius on Sunday in the Confederation Cup.
Pirates take on Africa Stars after a good run of six matches, where they only lost to Sundowns in the MTN8 final last weekend in Durban.
During this period, the Buccaneers were stingy in defence, only conceding one goal, while they were impressive on the attack, with 12 goals scored.
After the TS Galaxy win, coach Abdeslam Ouaddou said they had worked hard on their defensive organisation.
“We talk about resilience, character, personality, aggressiveness, co-ordination and mentality.
"I always say to chase and defend, you need a different approach and rhythm,” he said.
“I always use the metaphor that when you are in possession, you can play with a suit and tie and it looks beautiful.
"But when it’s time to defend, you must quickly take off the suit, tie and nice shining shoes and put on the work suit.
“You need to work and be aggressive, and it is the mentality I try to give to my players so they have the capacity to switch from an attacking phase to defence.
“For that, it is important for the players to be able to answer the question as to where, how and when I want to recover the ball.
“You have to train it over and over again and it is not easy and takes time.
"When it is successful and they understand, it is interesting.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Sundowns as they also had a short turnaround after the MTN8 final, having to prepare for Richards Bay on Tuesday and they travel to Angola this weekend.
“It is the work that must be done and the level of proficiency from the staff allows us to shift so quickly.
"We celebrated [after the MTN8 final win over Pirates] but when it was time to go to sleep, we went to sleep,” Sundowns coach Migel Cardoso said.
“We had to focus on recovery and the following day [Monday] in the morning, the team trained as normal and that is the level of commitment we need to have.
“The understanding of what is at stake in every match is important.
"We respect all the opponents and we didn’t take anything for granted in this match.”
