The record-breaking unbeaten start in the league for Mamelodi Sundowns came to an end on Sunday afternoon after The Brazilians suffered defeat at the hands of Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld.
Masandawana came into the game on the back of the midweek draw against AmaZulu and saw three changes made to the starting Xi, with Gift Motupa, Andile Jali and Brian Onyango replacing Peter Shalulile, Sphelele Mkhulise and Rushine De Reuck.
The Game started positively for Bafana Ba Style with Gaston Sirino striking from distance in the opening three minutes with a shot that narrowly missed the post. Maboe was the next to come closest with a volleyed effort from the edge of the box which just went over the bar. The opening thirty minutes were closely-contested with Sundowns trying to find a way through the low block. Denis Onyango was called into action for the first time in the first half in the thirty-second minute as he save an effort from Philani Zulu.
The Brazilians managed to break the deadlock with ten minutes to go in the half when Gaston Sirino latched on to a pass from Gift Motupa before rounding Itumeleng Khune to tap home into an empty net. The score remained until half-time as Downs entered the break in the ascendency.
The second half began with Chiefs putting the pressure on the defence of Sundowns and a couple of set-pieces had to be dealt with by the defence. Sirino was in the thick of the action again as he skipped past a couple of defenders before teeing up Lebohang Maboe who was unable to get the shot away to beat Khune.
The turning point of the game came with 18 minutes to go when substitute Samir Nurkovic played in a cross which took an unfortunate deflection to beat the helpless Denis Onyango to give the visitors the equaliser. Two minutes later Dumisani Zuma gave Amakhosi the lead when he latched onto a through ball before beating Onyango. The Brazilians spent the rest of the half chasing the equaliser but could not create the necessary chances Kermit Erasmus came closest with an effort which forced Khune to tip over the bar.
The result leaves Sundowns top of the log with forty-six points from 22 games played. Up next is a home fixture against Golden Arrows midweek.
How we lined up:
D.Onyango, Morena, B.Onyango (79’ Nascimento), Lebusa, Lakay (79’ Modiba), Jali (73’ Mvala), Coetzee, Maboe, Zwane, Sirino (85’ Mkhuma), Motupa (79’ Erasmus)
Subs.Pieterse, Nascimento, Mkhuma, Vilakazi, Modiba, Mudau, Kapinga, Erasmus, Mvala.
I would to thank Chiefs gor beating us it was too much expectations from the media to go all the way unbeaten and it was also making our players think they are invincible.
I think from now on the following will be a thing of the past:too many back passes at the back,slowly build up,obsessed with possession,underestimating the opponents and lastly substituting on time and rest those who are tired.
Its not a train smash this league is coming to Chloorkop today we got a wake up call and I think Motupa played well and if he can partner Shalulile opposition defence will find its difficult to contain us,lastly I think the goal scored by Zuma was an offside he was infront of the ball instead of him behind the ball but I stand to be corrected, if it was Var that goal shouldn’t have stood,Kby forever.
3 games without a win in a row, I foresee a disaster here.
Some Sundowns players such as Maboe are tired, needs to be rested. Unfortunately technical team see it some how, he cant be even substituted. Nascimento and Kekana should have started with the game. Experience is needed in this kind of the game. I believe players played under Pitso are being sidelined or sabotaged here.
This technical team is always failing this team you can’t rest a young energetic Mkhulise and leave Zwane who is 6 years older than him,it makes no sense. Mkhulise is a hard worker,he does more hard work than Zwane and Sirino combined.Mkhulise eases the job of Maboe and Riva’s job because he is good at chasing back,holding the ball and attacking unlike your beloved players,we had only Maboe attacking and defending which put pressure on Riva. The least you could done is to put Mkhulise on the bench as a cover because us as supporters know that Jali is injury prone unlike the technical team which spend most of the time with him.We can’t be having a technical team that worships players,Zwane and Sirino should not be playing at the same time.We beat chiefs in the first round without Sirino and also pirates without both of them because of hard work. You need to trust our young players,you can’t complain about not penetrating with pace when you put players who can do that in the stand,Mkhuma and Makgalwa,we hard only Sirino who can take on players.Members i think we have a blind or incompetent technical team,Lakay was not in the game,in the first half he nearly cost us by failing to judge the fight on the and in the second he cost us a goal by pressing and failed to press Blom at right back.Second goal it was because of our naive defending,you can’t apply high press when you don’t have pace. Motupa played very well in the first half but should have been substituted early in the 2nd half because he was tired not to wait until he cramped,you are killing our players,even Sirino was replaced because he was cramping according to coach,you need to replace to add fresh legs not because players are cramping.That boy Mkhuma did more job in 9 minutes than Zwane did in 94 minutes. Against Arrows Zwane and Lakay should be in the stands,Sirino on the bench,start with Langerman at left back,he he is fresh to finish the season ,in the middle we should start with Mkhulise,Riva,Mkhuma,Maboe and Modiba with Motupa upfront if Shaulile is still out,if he is okay we start both of them and put Modiba at left back,Langerman on the bench and finish the game with Romeo,Sirino,Makgalwa and Vila i promise we are gonna score more than two goals.We are playing at home and we should be more offensive. Players should be selected on merit not on names or reputation.Members start crying now i foresee danger,i think we are going to lose this league like chiefs if this technical team don’t change how they do things and we are going to need a miracle to defend the league and go to the next round of the champions league after we lost to two very weak teams in chiefs and TTM. We have assembled a big good squad with a weak technical team.To Management next season we need one coach and two assistants this co-coaching thing is not working,we are a big professional brand and we should operate like wise.
The wheels are clearly coming off and unfortunately the technical team is not assisting the situation. I can’t understand how Maboe finished the game, same as Mkhulise in the AmaZulu game. The whole team is clearly tired, and fresher players would’ve done much better, Mvala also did much better when he came in and I think players like Hlompho need to be given game time during this difficult times. We’re playing Arrows and which is full of running on Wednesday, and I just don’t see how those tired legs are going to cope.,In actual fact I don’t see us winning any of out remaining games, unless if the three unwise men do some drastic changes to the team
I listen to post match interview of our coach and he mentioned all the mistakes that happened and my worry is that he was just sitting on the bench watching like a spectator. Some of the tactical errors that players made should have been rectified before Chiefs scored.
Guys its painful to loose I agree with those who says its a wake up call to our players and technical staff .Dont underestimate any team at this stage . But you dont win Champion league by beating Kaizer Chiefs ONLY and chiefs will never win Champion league if its aim is to beat Sundowns ONLY .It will be the same as past 3 seasons to Chiefs .
We need to be consistent in winning and we can still win the league ( war ) even if we have lost this 1 battle between us and Kaizer Chiefs battle .
Its just a bragging rights to win against us but they are NOT going to win the ultimate price (the league)
Guys pls lets not panic to loose is part of the game no team can win all the time till the end even Bayern and Man.City are going to take the league title they lost during the season.
We won the league for the past three season in a row we lost many games I remember last year when We lost to Baroka during boo bubble people were shaking including me and calling our technical staff by all sort of names but we ended up taking the leagie.
Pirates, Supersport and Swallows failed to keep up with us and aMaZulu they don’t have that experience,this thing is going to Chloorkop and I know where they are the technical team and players will start to respect and treat every opponents equal.
Yesterday we got a good wake up call now it starting from scratch by collecting points,its 24 points to go and if we collect the just 63 points because aMaZulu will end up on 62 points if they win all their remaining games and you mustn’t forget thina if we win all our remaining games we will be on 71 points but just 63 points is fine.
Lento ngeyethu Dawanas thina sasebenza kusakhanya don’t be scared by opposition teams ,Kby forever
I’m disappointed with the overall performance, the players and coaches you guys you too relaxed caz every time we score a goal you don’t score the second one and you create to many it seems like you are playing for ball position not winning games. maboe is good player and a hardworker but he miss too many chances .it seems like you never learn aganist leopards and you have done against chiefs and we got punished.
It was bound to happen we were lucky against Amazulu. I wonder how can 3 big name coaches be beaten by one coach who has been struggling. There more they play kekana the better this better part of the season needs experienced players. And they forget we invest a lot in this team emotionally I was drained yesterday