Mamelodi Sundowns have missed out on the Club World Cup knockout stages after a goalless draw against Brazil’s Fluminense on Wednesday night at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. The defeat meant Bafana Bafana finished third in the group stages.
Lucas Ribeiro was the first to pull the trigger of the match outside the box, but his shot was met by the goalkeeper’s bucket hands. Fluminense were giving Downs space, which allowed them to not only dominate possession but also create chances.
Tashreeq Matthews spurned a good chance in front of the goal, but his effort was smacked away by the keeper’s chest. Divine Lunga also came close to breaking the deadlock for his side after Themba Zwane delivered him the ball on the left flank, but the Fluminense defence made a clearance to deny them a goal.
Counterpressing almost benefited the Pretoria-based side, but Fluminense managed to clear the ball away from the danger area. Danger loomed for Downs just after the 20-minute mark, but luckily, Khuliso Mudau headed the ball away to keep the scoreline at 0-0.
The Rio de Janeiro-based side were close to opening the scoring after the cooling break, but the ball went slightly wide. Despite Bafana Ba Style dominating the opening half, they went to the break with a goalless draw.
The second stanza kicked off with an early corner kick awarded to Masandawana. Taken by Lucas Ribeiro, the shot was too powerful to find the right person in the area. In the 58th minute, the Brazilian-based outfit came close to opening the floodgates, but they were denied by the woodwork. Substitute Mosa Lebusa saved the day for Downs after he slid to make an important tackle, denying Fluminense a goal just inside 70 minutes.
In added time, Masandawana almost saw a goal, but the effort was headed out by the Fluminense defence. After 90 minutes of a titanic tussle between the two sides, the match ended with no goals, seeing Downs exit the tournament.
How we lined up: Williams, Mudau, Cupido, Kekana, Lunga, Mokoena, Allende, Zwane ©, Ribeiro, Rayners, Matthews.
Subs: Onyango, Pieterse, Khoza, Lebusa, Modiba, Mdunyelwa, Mvala, Morena, Adams, Maema, Mkhulise, Aubaas, Sales, Letlhaku, Shalulile.
People will always complain and criticize but I take my hat off to you guys considering that we were the lowest ranked team in our group. You made South Africa proud.
Come back home boys you made us proud and you showed what we are capable of in africa.We were not humiliated at all, we can not all qualify in the last 16 , we were not lucky like other good teams sych as Atletico Madrid, which you cant say they are not a good because they failed to qualify.What I am saying is that be proud of yourselves because you are in the same league/level as Atletico Madrid.The 2029 World cup preparation starts when we play our league championship because we need to win it to play in the CCL, we need to win the CCL or be in the final in the next three to four years to qualify for the next world cup.What is also clear from this world cup is that we need to beef up the squad, we need two hitman to complement Reyners and Methews, we need centre backs, we need a left back, because Modiba can give us attacking obtions as we know him from Bafana at times.To the boys ,hace a wonderful holiday filled with joy and happiness with your families, you deserve it folks so that you come back re- ernegised but dont forget that a life of a professional footballer must not be reckless.God bless you.
I also want to commend and applaud the selfless investment made by Dr Motsepe in Sundowns and south african football and hr has shown thw world what southa africa and africa is in terms of foitball.I also cannot forget the PSL chairman Dr Khoza and the rest of other chairmen in the PSL for ensuring that wr have a well organised and run league in SA, withouth this good organisation at the PSL ,sundowns and other teams would not be producing such quality players, the league produces these players and their teams ehances and sustains their performance, thanks to the Iron Duke and the rest, SA was represented in this world cup.Dr Khoza must give Rele and Nkotha , he cant sell Rele to Israel, for what? that would kill thir career, if there is no transfer for those boys to better leagues in Europe, let them come to sundowns to ply CCL consistantly and play world cup and that will keep them at Bafana.
Thanks Down for the good performance in CWC the time for blaming each other now is not good at all now our players tried their level best and they didn’t disappoint us.
Going forward we need a ruthless striker ,creative midfielder and a lefthand centre back lastly and a good goalkeeper to keep Williams on his toes.Come back and have a rest because league resumes is around the corner we need to be fresh and ready.
The boys did well but we must also not be afraid to comment about the areas they are lacking. Ball possession at the back without purpose will not take us any. we will always play second fiddle to the likes of Pyramids. There is no sense of urgency in the team.
The technical team should use this break to come up with options on how we are going to resolve and complement our current strengths and weaknesses.
We need to plan matches according to the way the opposition is playing because all the teams we are losing to plan for us according to the way we play.
Ntate Motsepe wants to conquer Africa and possibly the world, his team must no only look the part, it must be seen looking the part the way Ribeiro does, period.
cure tsepe re
ptions d se
There’s a lot of spade work 2 done at Sundowns u can’t hav an aimless ball possession that is played in ur own 18 area&say u had a great game.I mean with 20 minutes 2 go we had no sense of urgency at all u hav ur players cool,calm in their 18 area not in a hurry at all.No no no Sundowns must fix this nonsense.Thats why we ddnt beat newbies in Magesi&Pyramids is bcoz of this static ball possession.We r only showing 1 trophy out of 6 trophies hayi hayi 2 me its not acceptable.Bt 2 the CWC its a good preparation for the start of the season I believe Sundowns will hav a good season as we hav a great showing in America.Bt I won’t lie&go with the flow this kind of football that’s having fancy football no shot at goal in the second half on my side it doesn’t sit well at all.Its like none cares about our emotions.How is Sundowns going 2 score goals with 95 %possession in their half.its not on at all.