Ngubane: AFCON run drained Sundowns players

Mlungisi "Professor" Ngubane believes the effects of having more players than any other local team in the Bafana Bafana squad are starting to show at Mamelodi Sundowns.

The DStv Premiership champions had nine players in the Hugo Broos squad that won a bronze medal in the Africa Cup Of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast.

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Sundowns have been not convincing in their recent games and Ngubane believes fatigue might be the reason for that.

Sundowns are facing ES Tunis away in Tunisia in the first leg of the CAF Champions League semi-final.

Tickets for the match are said to have been sold-out within two hours of going on sale.

"Where they are going Sundowns they will be facing a team that beat the great Al Ahly," Ngubane tells KickOff.

"And the way Sundowns is performing at the moment, it's going to be difficult for them to come back with a win.

"Let’s hope the reason for their recent performance is because they are more focused on the Champions League.

"They did not play well against Yanga, but they were still able to grind the results.

"They are humans as well, you can't have so many of your players in the AFCON and expect them to come back normal.

"Teams that had only two players taking part in the AFCON gave those players a rest. That was not the case at Sundowns though. It was just too much for the poor players.

"The players are trying, but it's difficult for a team like Sundowns to perform the way they are doing at the moment. The AFCON games drained them physically.

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 "Yes they have depth, but not getting game time for a long time makes a player lose momentum. They might not be mentally ready.

"So it's