After losing to Orlando Pirates 3-0 in the second leg of the semifinals on Saturday afternoon in Polokwane, Mamelodi Sundowns was eliminated from the MTN8 Competition.
Masandawana lost momentum early on in the game as the Buccaneers scored a dubious goal in the first half.
In the eighth minute, Kermit Erasmus of the Pirates connected with Monnapule Saleng of the Pirates after the ball had crossed the goal line to score.
According to The Brazilians Co-Coach Manqoba Mngqithi, given how the game played out, it was predicted that Pirates would prevail.
“I feel that we played the manner that we intended to play, and it was unfortunate that we gave up the goal so early in the game, which, in my opinion, Saleng pushed in from beyond the goal line.
Pirates are a club that excels in transitions and counterattacks, so if they score that early in the game, the game is in their favor.
However, we must also share some of the responsibility. Knowing how strong the opposition is in transition, I believe we lost too many balls for very little money.
You cannot afford to risk possession in such a way because once they decide to go in a low block, a little more patience and width are needed to try and open them up gradually but patiently without rushing to force passes into areas or to clip balls to the opponents because they always proved to be dangerous on transition.
“I must admit, their transitions are a little bit more clinical than they used to be when Saleng began playing. I believe they only got 3 or 4 shots on goal in this game today, and all three were successful. We attempted far too many goals in this game, but we were unsuccessful because, in my opinion, we lacked precision in the final third.
More than anything, I believe that their goal early in the game made things tough for us because we always know that when playing against Pirates, you have to pay close attention to your rest defense and worry a lot about breaking that low block down, and I believe that’s where the game was lost.
The Brazilians’ loss to their Soweto rivals eliminates them from contention for another Premier Soccer League triple season, leaving the Tshwane giants to defend the Nedbank Cup and the DStv Premiership.
One of the major players on Bafana Ba Style’s expanding list of injured players is Namibian international striker Peter Shalulile, who was forced to withdraw from both the MTN8 second leg match and the preliminary second round of the CAF Champions League due to injury.
The Downs Coach recognized the effect of their tallysman’s absence on the team, saying:
We would be lying if we said we weren’t missing Peter, so we did all in our power to keep his absence from the public knowledge since we know that everyone is aware of how reliant we are on his capacity to terminate opportunities and create many dangers.
With his aggressive pressing and quickness, [Shalulile] offers us a chance from the first line of defense, which to some degree had an impact on the whole team.
“We were comforting ourselves with the amount of goals we scored before this match in three matches, but we knew for a fact that at some moment if we don’t use our opportunities we would be exposed as not having a player of the quality of Peter Shalulile.” Finally, Coach Manqoba said.
On Tuesday, October 25, Mamelodi Sundowns will play Maritzburg United in the DStv Premiership at Harry Gwala Stadium. The game begins at 19:30.