Before the Brazilians can even think of the must-win match against the Tunisian giants, they have a small matter of Tuesdays DStv Premiership match against Sekhukhune United at Loftus Versfeld.
Masandawana will be back at the same venue three days later looking to overturn the 1-0 defeat to Esperance from the first leg and to book their place in the final of Africas coveted club competition.
Mashego believes his former team will still be haunted by the scare against Young Africans in the previous round where they needed penalties to progress to the last four.
Youre dealing with human beings. You cant switch them on and off and expect them to do miracles, he said in an interview with the Citizen
They still need to play, they have 90 minutes left against Esperance. At the back of their minds, they are thinking about Yanga, how they went through and all the talk.
They need to overcome that and fight to be in the final. It will be difficult now because they are trailing and we saw they struggled to score against Yanga.
Mashego has challenged the technical team led by Rulani Mokwena to galvanise the current generation to reach their first champions league final since 2016 when they went all the way in the competition. Sundowns were knocked out by Wydad Casablanca at this stage of the champions league last season.
With Sundowns being who they are, Im sure they can overcome this deficit and reach the final but its not a on and off thing switch, they still need to work hard, he said.
Its up to the coaches now to rally the boys, calm them down and bring them down to earth because in the last five or six games, they havent been themselves. They just need something to get back into the Sundowns that we all know.
Sundowns will be sweating over the fitness of reigning PSL Footballer of the Season Teboho Mokoena who was desperately missed in the away leg in Tunisia. The Bafana Bafana midfielder is carrying a minor hamstring injury but could be back for the do-or-die match.
