{"id":58719,"date":"2023-12-30T15:54:22","date_gmt":"2023-12-30T15:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane"},"modified":"2023-12-30T16:03:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T16:03:41","slug":"sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","title":{"rendered":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams meet in their DStv Premiership clash at Loftus on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"divVideoStepAdTop\"><\/a>Sundowns go into this match looking to return to winning ways after being held to a goalless draw by Cape Town City midweek while City are out to make it two wins in a row after beating Chippa United 2-1 in their last outing. \u201cThere is a lot to expect from them because they are a good team and they will be highly motivated as they won their last game. They will be looking to win another game in succession to cement a place in the top eight before the long Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) break,\u201d said Nku.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut having said that, we have prepared well for them and we are ready for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sundowns will be playing their 30th match since the beginning of August and Nku, who cut his teeth in professional football with Polokwane, admitted the fixture pile-up is taking its toll on the players. \u201cWe are doing fine even though we are tired because it has been a long year. Normally we are off by this time of the year but we have to do the work. Everyone is tired but we have people who help us to recover.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have played more games than any other team but we understand that this is part of our job and we have to do what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nku pointed out Puleng Marema and Afcon-bound Oswin Appollis as Polokwane&#8217;s dangermen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think you know Puleng Marema is a good player and they have Appollis who has been scoring goals for them. Those are the two players who I expect they will give us a run for our money but we are ready for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\">South-Africa<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams meet in their DStv Premiership clash at Loftus on Saturday. Sundowns go into this match looking to return to winning ways after being held to a goalless draw by Cape Town City midweek while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-58719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\",\"name\":\"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":562,\"caption\":\"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane - South Africa","description":"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane","og_description":"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":562,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane","datePublished":"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane"},"wordCount":329,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane","name":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-30T15:54:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-30T16:03:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lesiba Nku is expecting a tough battle from unpredictable Polokwane City when the two teams ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1703939496.372109.jpg","width":750,"height":562,"caption":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sundowns-midfielder-nku-expecting-tough-battle-from-polokwane#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sundowns midfielder Nku expecting tough battle from Polokwane"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}