Bring on the games, says upbeat Billiat

Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns forward Khama Billiat is adamant his side can overcome a grueling schedule and push on for domestic and continental honours.

The Brazilians' triumphant run in the 2016 CAF Champions League means the last time the squad has enjoyed a proper rest was in the middle of 2015; nearly two years.

And a recent run of five matches without a win added to the belief that the Pretoria side had run out of steam.

But Billiat, who returned from a recent injury to inspire his team to back-to-back wins over SuperSport United (5-0) and Free State Stars (1-0) last week, says it's possible for Sundowns to overcome fatigue if they adopt the right attitude. 

"Fatigue is always going to be there but you can still win games with fatigue if your mind is right, if you're well-managed and you're more hungry than people that aren't fatigued," he told KickOff website.

"I think we have played more games and we should be well motivated, knowing that this is our life - you're always going to play more games than others if you want to live in the Champions (League) circle."

Masandawana's recent loss to Golden Arrows in the Nedbank Cup added further fuel to those thinking that the Brazilians were down and out. But Billiat says too much can be read into such a result.

"Playing small teams is more difficult because they all just want to beat you, every game we don't look at it differently - this is Arrows, this is Chiefs - they're all the same.

"In fact, Arrows give you an even harder challenge than Chiefs because they just want to beat Sundowns, they want to beat a big team, and everyone wants that so it becomes harder," explained the Zimbabwe international.

He also argued that the high number of matches Downs have played has a plus side. 

"I think it helps. You see more of your mistakes and get to rectify them in between the games. The more you play the more experience you get to see more things than other teams playing fewer games.

"We should take advantage of that, although it will catch up to us but let it catch up while we have experience and know how to deal with one game rather than not being able to play more games."

Pitso Mosimane's side are four points off the pace in the domestic league and are into the Group phase of the 2017 Champions League.