Mamelodi Sundowns have missed out on being champions of the CAF Champions League following their 2-1 loss against Pyramids FC in the second leg of the final on Sunday night at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo.
The visitors kicked off the game with the intention to attack but that first effort from Lucas Ribeiro sailed over the bar. Pyramids came close to opening the scoring on the 11th minute when a cross was made to the backpost bit the striker couldn’t stretch himself enough to get the ball as it went wide.
A corner was awarded to the hosts after Grant Kekana made a clearance. The corner was cleared away but a rebound was quickly found. From the rebound, a shot was struck directly to Ronwen Williams who kept his cool and focus on the ball to make the save. The hosts, however, managed to break the deadlock on the 24thminute. From a mistake in the area, Downs were punished as Pyramids found the back of the net.
Masandawana came close to levelling matters in the closing stages of the opening half through Tashreeq Matthews in front of goal but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper’s foot. This saw them head to the interval trailing.
In the opening minutes of the second stanza, from range, Teboho Mokoena fired a shot but it deflected before finding the goalkeeper’s bucket hands. On the 56thminute, Divine Lunga fouled a player on the edge of the box, earning Pyramids a setpiece which they converted and extended their lead.
A freekick on the 67th minute was awarded to Bafana Ba Style. Taken by Mokoena, the shot was powerful and on target but the goalkeeper smacked it away. The relentless spirit that Masandawana kept saw them finding the back of the net on the 76th minute through Iqraam Rayners.
The pressure started piling up for both sides as Downs looked to find a second goal. They were awarded a corner but the Pyramids defence was watertight, denying their visitors a chance to score.
Inside the ten minutes of added time, Pyramids almost came close to extending their lead and killing the game but the effort sailed over the bar to keep the scoreline the same. Despite their hard-fought effort in the final stages of the match, the Pretoria-based side were unable to emerge victorious.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Mudau, Kekana, Lebusa, Modiba, Mokoena, Allende, Adams, Ribeiro, Rayners, Matthews.
Subs: Onyango, Lunga, Mvala, Morena, Zwane, Aubaas, Sales, Shalulile, Mothiba.
Ya it’s painful to lost like that but mina I will keep on saying we lost the final here at Loftus where our goalkeeper was juggling the ball and trapping it with the chest in a one nil scoreline whereas our strikers were waiting for the quick pass to catch them off guard,even the supporters were cheering on that instead of booing or scolding him in doing that now they want our coach to be sacked including the former players like Bapela and Masilela are saying that,some says we should have introduced Zwane I don’t know maybe I don’t know soccer,how sure are we that if Zwane was playing we would be Champs by now.
We underestimated that team because we beat Esperance and Al Ahly forgetting Pyramids has got good players than Al Ahly,now we are spoiled we no want to win Betway league but the big fish and my question if we sack Cardoso who can take us there pls let’s not try to talk about Pisto because we the relationship he has with Motsepe and Rhulani was sacked because of beautiful football with no results.
Champions League doesn’t need nice football but goals where Williams and his backline must practice sense of urgency not this backpasses they are showing us all the time or we must find the good goalkeeper to replace him.I still believe in Cardoso and team must sign him a prolific striker to compliment Rayners because we can’t rely on lazy Ribeiro most of the time.Watch the space whom we are going to sign and I do trust our Management they’re also not happy about losing the final.Idawana leli lizobuya asingezwa abantu abafika manje ku Downs aba saphotha iwini nama fans wama opposition teams asihlekayo sizowa sivuke sizithintithe sihlabele phambili and if sekunjalo they will come with the so called Financial Fair Play isikhala induku.
I think Rulani had results and beautiful foolball however the only problem was our central defence which was not assisting his total football because our central defense lacks speed and we still have that problem.With Cardoso we are playing the worst football with no results because he also has not won the champions league, plus he plays negative foitball that kills players with flair, hence some of you say Rebeiro is lazy, perhaps that is why he does not play Zwane because his negative and javeline foolball will also kill Mshishi.There is no guarantee if we continue with Cardoso we will win the CCL next year given his style of play.Our players are not free to express themselves and one could see the stray passes some of them were making in that match. With Zwane and Rulani’s football style and approach we were going to beat
Pyramids any day.One other thing, Cardoso is unable to give us a proper line up.We need Rulani back and we sign two good center backs to add to Mvala and Cupido and one left back such as Basadeen and we will compete at the world cup.We are not short of players in other departments as long as we play total football.
PSG hammered Inter milan because they were playing total football, playing players with speed and flair, all attacking when having the ball and all immediately getting behind the ball when loosing it.Sundowns players can do that because they have flair and speed, except for the two center backs that Cardoso was playing ahead of Mvala and Cupido.
Ya I can hear you Ayanda but it was the same Rhulani that was accused of being obsessed with possession than scoring goals and he once said he wants one thousand passes in a certain game,members does beautiful football gave us Champions league before as far as I know even the days of our former players abo Masilela and Bapela whom are crying now about Downs way of playing of which is piano and shoeshine they failed even to reach the semis except in 2001 where we reached the final and lost.
Pitso even said nice football or good possession doesn’t win you the Champs league but commitment and goals.The Rhulani we want now is the one who failed at Wydad with the beautiful football and look how we won the Dstv last year when he was a coach alone,they’re games we drew some with one nil scoreline and the number of goals we scored were less than now in 28 games we played and he didn’t hide that he’s got friends within the players and that alone created division amongst players.
Mean what I will suggest let the team buy him a good striker and cut the squad because he stated we got too many players and that we can’t dispute.Lastly I think we need a good backup of Mokoena even though we have Bathusi but a player in the mould of Bapela or Motlohi which is Ramiro Vaca or Feisal Salum even though he’s expensive and sign that young Supersport defender Ikon and put Kekana on grandstand for few games,what I like about our Management they have a succession plan what is happening right now will completely pass. Kby forever
The blame should also be apportioned to some of our Bafana stars who do not commit silly mistakes when playing for Bafana, instead crying for the coach’s head every time we lose.
The coach did not tell Kekana to pass the ball to the opponent nor Mathews to fluff the chance that was afforded to him to equalize.
We can’t stop blaming Cardoso bcoz also he’s not a holy cow here its easy 4 him 2 field Mothiba someone who never played football 4 the whole&exclude an engine of the team Zwane,I say to hell with Cardoso,he mst enjoy his tour arranged by another stooge in Fleming Berg.Bt pretend as if Rhulani was playing the right kind of soccer u r lying.A coach who just wanted 2 surpass a 1000 passes just 4 fun was just childish,we need a local coach who’s matured in his brain not Rhulani I heard him in Soccer Africa program saying Im a big fan of Guadiola&I realized this one is still having wet dreams,if he’s going 2 talk about someone’s philosophy.I hate Cardoso bt I can’t say either I prefer Rhulani 2 witness Rhulani sacrificing crucial games bcoz of unbeaten run or being invincible 4 the whole season woow.
Let me highlight something to management and members,in the last 7 champions league game we won 1 and never scored more than 1 goals in those games.Secondly after Amazulu game we played 10 league games and also never scored at least two goals.We are not complaining because we lost but the manner in which our team is made to play,no one with a sane made can blame Barca for losing to Inter because they relentlessly attacked Inter and were just unlucky to lose that game and we can not say the same about Sundowns’ loss. Before he came we were gradually introducing young players,where are they now? I have said it b4 and i’m gonna say it again,it makes no sense to spend money on development and again spend more money on buying players who are ordinary.Can anyone point out anything the current coach is doing better than the previous coach.We need a coach who can make us play offensive football regardless of were we play and who we are playing against.We need to play without fear like Barca and PSG.We have more attacking than defensive players yet we play defensive football.Our coach won the league in Tunisia and was fired for playing negative football,i think we fell to the same trap Wydad fell with Rulani.I was gonna support if he said he wanted to score 10 goals in a match because there’s no way you can score 10 goals and lose a game but you can make 1000 passes and lose a game.When you start a soccer team you want win games and ultimately win trophies and the only way to win games is by out scoring your opponenets.No team has ever won cup or game through ball possession therefore,your play should goals orientated not possession based. Verdict the coach must go because with him at the club world cup we are going the to add numbers,i’m not saying that i want the coach that can win us club world cup but a coach who can make us compete in the world cup because we surely did not compete in the CAF champions league.We only had 2 shots at goals at HOME in the 1st leg of the final.Are we for real?