FIFA CWC: Sundowns will put up a fight against Fluminense – Marcelo Allende

Photo Credit – Mamelodi Sundowns.

Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Marcelo Allende has vowed that they will fight for every ball during their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Group F clash against Brazilian side Fluminense at Miami, Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday.

Masandawana have a realistic chance of advancing to the knockout stages. The South African champions won their group opener 1-0 against Ulsan HD, before a 4-3 defeat to Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in their second match last Saturday.

Despite some costly mistakes that denied them victory against Dortmund, the Chilean has maintained that they will not change their style of play against the Brazilian side.

“It will be a nice game against a good opponent…a Brazilian team that likes to play,” said Allende, as quoted by Sowetan. “I think we fought. We know how high this level is and we know how big the team we played against [referring to Dortmund] is. We made mistakes, but this is our game, this is our style, and we will play like this until the end.

“We know we could have done better, but I am proud of my teammates because after the mistakes, we still played and fought, scoring two goals. We will fight again against Fluminense.”

Right-back Thapelo Morena echoed Allende’s sentiments by saying: “We are going to give it our all like we did against Dortmund and try to convert the chances that we create. We’ve watched Fluminense games, but we weren’t focusing on them until we played Dortmund.

“The performance we gave against Dortmund motivates us to drive on … we are going to do well. We are going to give our best, especially because it’s a game that’s going to determine everything for us.”

Ahead of the fixture, Fluminense and Sundowns are tied on four points. The Brazilians won their opener 4-2 against Ulsan HD after securing a 0-0 draw against Dortmund.