Mamelodi Sundowns edged Chippa United on penalties in a tightly contested match to advance to the semifinals of the Telkom Knockout.
The Brazilians advanced (4-3) courtesy of the dreaded penalty lottery against a highly motivated Chippa United after both sided played to a 2-2 draw in 120 minutes of play.
The Chilli Boys were ahead through Augustine Kwem and Silas Maziya, who handed the hosts the lead on two separate occasions in regulation time, but Gaston Sirino pulled the defending league champions back on level terms with a second-half brace.
Downs were trailing early in the match after Tercious Malepe slipped a through ball to Kwem who made no mistake as he rolled the ball into the back of the net for his first goal for the Eastern Cape club.
Denis Onyango came to the Sundowns’ rescue with superb save after the Chippa goalscorer almost doubled the lead.
Mauricio Affonso almost put Sundowns level but failed to convert his header attempt eight minutes later before Sirino watched on in agony as his deflected shot cannoned off the base of the post with Patrick Tignyemb well beaten.
Sundowns carried that momentum into the second half and pulled level in the 51st minute following a foul on Phakamani Mahlambi inside the penalty area. Sirino stepped up to the spot and made no mistake to draw the two teams level.
Chippa hit back seven minutes later as Maziya fired home from an almost impossible angle with his unorthodox volley looping over the head of Onyango and into the back of the net.
Sundowns, though, were not going down without a fight and Sirino capitalised from a Tignyemb mistake to send the game into extra-time. The Uruguayan left with the easiest of finishes after the Chippa shot-stopper spilt a routine take.
Chippa were dealt further a blow 11 minutes into extra-time as Tercious Malepe received his marching orders, but Sundowns couldn’t make the man advantage count in their favour as the game would ultimately be decided from the spot.
Onyango saved Twala’s opening kick and this laid the foundation for the Tshwane giants who netted all four of their penalties before Masalesa pushed his effort wide of goal.
Chippa United (1) 2 (Kwem 13′ Maziya 58′)
Mamelodi Sundowns (0) 2 (Sirino 51′ 70′)
Sundowns won 4-3 on penalties.
Chippa United: Tignyemb; Modisane, K. Moyo, Nsabiyumva, E. Moyo, Maziya (Lentjies 65′), Masalesa, Mahola (Maphanga 82′), Twala, Malepe, Kwem (R. Manzini 90+2′).
Mamelodi Sundowns: Onyango; Morena, Madisha, Lebusa, Langerman, Mabunda, Kekana, Meza (Mahlambi 46′) [Mkhulise 105+1′], Vilakazi, Sirino (Lakay 76′), Affonso.
Coach pls give Bangaly Somauhoro a chance to play or release him,its painfully what you do to that boy,a combo of him with Lebusa can be great including both of them are much big and tall.
If Chiefs progress against M.United and nathi beat Arrows they will beat us again, what I’ve noticed about them they are very dangerous on set pieces and lastly don’t even think on fielding Arendse he’s very slow Chiefs is full or running players.
We will not accept another defeat by them again We had enough of being ridiculed everywhere we go even on Parliament are laughing at us,Kby forever
I don’t know if it is the right choice my man, the guy coasted us a number of games before He was sidelined I personal I don’t trust him remember the day when we were playing Barcelona he does some horrible mistakes including conceding penalties.
Truth be told, we played kak yesterday. At some stage, I thought it was deliberate from both the players and the technical team, just to avoid them Zebras. I thought the prospect of meeting Zebras must have weighed heavily on our players and the coach as he’s dead scared of them. Hlompho Kekana has reached his sell-by date and the coach should use him sparingly. Having him and Villa in that middlefield is like playing with a man short, hence even our numerical advantage couldn’t count for us. Even if Chippa had played with 9 men we were not even going to be a threat.
Last time after loosing 2-0 to Chiefs, some of us tried robustly to voice our dissatisfaction about the performance of some of the players in the team(Downs).One member quickly reprimanded us not to ever single out players though it was not our intention to single out players but only rating their performance on the day of the game. Today as I read through most of the comments I can feel that indeed some of the players do not deserve to be in the beautiful team’s starting line up. The worrying factor is that their number is huge. Teams in the PSL adapt quickly to different game and level of ply. When playing cup competitions like MTN, Top Eight etc. teams make quick runs, scoring early is one of the plans, closing spaces for opponents etc.but us we want to play six passes at the back and expect opponents to open for us, and when they do not, we become frustrated especially with coach Pitso lacking plan B most of the time. I mean how do you sum up a team of Downs’s calibre having to play penalties(with Chippa) while playing with a numerical advantage
Member Sundowns can be beaten like other teams otherwise we will be buying referees like what the zebras did from 30 years back, Granada is the team that was recently promoted from La Liga BUT THEY BEAT BARCELONA. it does not mean that if your squad is big then you MUST win games please understand that. Man united have a massive squad but check where are they in the log. I think I explained it to you properly. if you miss the point you will really feel frustrated unnecessary. all our players are great and that is why I am always commenting about Aubrey because I know he can do better, he must fight to be into the team and keep his jersey.
Member according to you Members we will never have a team you constantly criticize players as if they a missing the chances intentionally that is why i don’t want to talk about a player if he did not perform well, you talk about other teams score early goals but most of the Telkom cup games ended in penalty kicks, the Zebras are there because of lotto, we won our first game 5-0 and we won the second game on penalties but you moan and even make wrong accusation, Skop Vorentoe fotball is not played in the professional leagues that team will just field tall guys and wait for you, check Barcelona, Man city, they all play passing games and they are successful. if i can delete players according to your complaints we will not have a team. hence i say RELAX Member very soon gate entrance will be free do’t worry.
Dalom well said, Pitso is dead scared of Chiefs and does’nt have hope of beating them, this says a lot about his view of his team and lack of faith in his team. This tells me he sat and did nothing while Cheifs and other teams were building their teams. I always said that Pitso plays one dimensional football and depends largely on individual brilliance, good attacking approach and over dependency on few players but put less emphasis on defending game and team work in defending scenario. I have observed that a number of his players are letting him down recently they never pitch for games and they end up in the stands. I said it before that Downs need proper left & right back and converting wingers to right & left backs should not be a permanent strategy & tactics, Anele, Arendse, Langerman, Onyango, Mweene, Villa, Kekana, Mabunda should have understudy or players that are currently being groomed to take over otherwise Downs is going to be in trouble as we speak we can’t deal with the attacking prowess of Chiefs. Some games needs first and foremost a good defending plan and you may find only one chance either through set-piece or counter attack and win the game, some games you may only have to deny an opponent with attacking prowess the win and see what it does to your players moral, motivation & self belief. They start to believe and then the sky is the limit. Something is not right somewhere in the Downs camp.
@QMarshall,wat is a “proper left/ryt back”? Give me one right back that is better than Thapelo Morena in the psl…….our problem was not in defence,Madisha &Lebusa hv been fantastic this season hence we r seeing the unreliable Arendse sitting on the stands,our problem is our central midfield,Kekana n Vila r finished,n Vila is lazy on top of dat,then if u add Mabunda on that partnership,u r surely heading for disaster cos his passing is terrible,so until we drop Vila n Kekana,we will continue to struggle.
I don’t understand which Sundowns ur talking about…. WHAT CHIEFS… I’m not to sure about U as our members, it’s a pity some of the guyz have been with us on this website, it’s a SHAME that u agree with CHIEFS BENEFICIARIES…a TRUE SUNDOWNS SUPPORTERS HAS NEVER THOUGHT CHIEFS AS PROBLEM TO US… REGARDLESS OF WINNING OR LOOSING…MUSANI UKUJABULISA IZITHA NGENTO ENGEKHO… I want to meet them again and again… WHERE WAS ZEBRAS WHEN THE LOG ENDS,, I’M TIRED OF THIS NONSENSE… WHAT HAVE THEY DONE…JUST KEEP QUIET,.. and let the BIG BOY’S DO THEIR THING… I said it we shouldn’t be talking like this..OUR BOYS DON’T KNOW WHICH GAMES NOT TO LOOSE.. that’s why there is SO MUCH NOISE…???????
I will not justify my support for Downs to anyone and I refuse to be abused nor shout down by anyone. What I express is my view and if anyone want to correct me where I may have erred, I’m happy to be corrected and besides here we only have a couple of minutes to air our views and there’s only a few points that can be aired and not all of them. By the way a proper right/left back is one who understand that he’s part of a group of defenders whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and stop the opposing team from scoring goals and any secondary role of scoring & whipping in the crosses (by right/left back) if done well is only a bonus. I aggree that Morena has grown & matured to be one of the pillars at Downs, his passion & commitment is unquestionable and exemplary. How I wish majority of the players could be like him.
Some people think they own this blog and that their opinions are always correct. Members we have different opinions and we should always say how we feel and not criticize others’ point of view as if ours are right, without fear or favor, Kekana need to be rested, he is tired and useless this days, Vila should go to the stands.You just cannot play both Mabunda and Kekana together. They both cannot pass or ran with the ball.We need hungry players like Meza and Mahlambi. The introduction of Mahlambi and Lakay made us to proceed to the next round.MR coach you need to be brave and give young stars a chance, and stop wasting Motsepe’s money by buying expensive,old and useless players like Brockie Niang,Tade.I am happy we are playing two young cenral defenders.I was sad to learn that we sold Shozi who is 10 times better than Vila to TS Galaxy.We have good young players in MDC team,we should utilize the. (Mkhuma Promise).It pains me to watch EPL’SERI A AND LA LIGA and watch 18,19 and 20 year old boys playing, knowing very that our young talented players will wait until they turn 25 to be given a chance,talented Mkhulise is not given a chance at 23 yrs. To all SA COACHES if Mbape can win a play and win a world cup at 19,why a afraid to give these tenagers a chance?,Bafana is struggling bcoz we rely mostly on the players who are about to retire at club level.
Seconded member you differ with Pitso they will say you are not Downs supporter,even at AGM this week they will not voice their anger or fustration to the President instead they will worship him and busy taking selfies with him as if everything is perfect in our team,our webmaster is not doing his/her job properly and We don’t get Downs merchandise all over the country etc.I’m appealing to those who’ll be at that meeting to represent us whole heartedly,Kby forever
As for people i feel as if the team is nor settled as yet hence our performance is far below our normal standard. I do not think we can beat Zebbies with that team that was fielded yesterday. The team defended very poorly if Chippa did capitalise on that we could conceded more goals especially in the first half. The pairing of Madisha and Lebusa was terrible. That central defence was porous. As for me i think Revaldo can switch back to his position. Surely given a chance he can defend better than Madisha. In the central midfield we lacked creativity. There was nothing delivered to the attacking players going forward. The over use of Kekana is killing the team. The man is being overloaded with games at the age of 34 and i don’t why? We have players that can play in that position interchanging with Kekana. Again the use of Langaman and Moren as wing backs left the central defence exposed and it was easier for Chippa to use spaces behind them. Sundowns is so predictable! The lacks variation. We are not dangerous on set pieces at all. Sundowns is boring! Something needs to change! Our attacking prowess has been compromised. Pitso is used to playing without strikers and unorthodox style has compromised our attacking capabilities. Mahlambi is hardly given a chance but you can see that the player has got speed and skill to trouble any opposition
To me the coach is starting to panic and He is making wrong selections. I don’t see anything wrong with our performance against leopards, Highlands Park and Chiefs. We created so many scoring opportunities . We dominated those games because we had Jali playing in the middle. Mabunda does not assist in attack. He plays backpasses allowing the opponent the track and park The Bus.
Shozi, Boikanyo, Ngubane and Modise should be top internationals by now if it was not because of our technical team
The last time Bangaly was fielded in a match involving Chiefs, he he made Billiat to look ordinary which is something Madisha is not able to do.
Masandawana, I don’t think that our coach is scared of the Zebras, sometimes our members tend to think very low of our personnel if 1 result did not go our way, Barcelona has already being beaten twice by lowly teams. The Zebras won a friendly game and in a league game but we are already making noises. Again I am not going to write hare and criticise my players because I will not be doing my duties as a Supporter. We don’t need to go to the AGM and fight with the President for what Muzi? The Team is playing well, this year we are not far from the leaders, we are in control of the Telkom Cup so why must I stress. We are creating so many chances that we are not converting. that is our problem but even Barcelona is experiencing the same problem. If the team manage to sell our young stars to other teams than that must be applauded. I DON’T KNOW WHY IS THERE SO MANY NOISES WHILE WE ARE IN CONTROL, OUR NEGATIVE NOISE HAS SUPUSED THAT OF THE ZEBRAS WHO MAKE NOISE WITH 2 WINS IN TELKOM CUP ALL THROUGH PENALTIES BUT THEY ARE MAKING NOISE.RELAX MEMBERS YOU ARE IN CONTROL.
AT THE AGM TAKE AS MANY SELFIES WITH THE PRESIDENT WHY NOT? THE TEAM IS DOING WELL. WHAT FRUSTRATIONS ARE WE HAVING? NOTHING SCARES ME FROM THE ZEBRAS. THEY PLAY A ROUTE ONE BALL THAT NUROCOVIC OR CASTRO TO SCORE. FROM THERE I DON’T SEE ANY MOVE. RELAX MEMBERS AND TAKE AS MANY PHOTOS AS POSSIBLE.
Let me take this time to wish the team abundance of luck for todays encounter, I wish that we bring the 3 points home. KBY