The visitors made a swift start, forcing Grant Kekana to intervene and make an early tackle on Elias Pelembe who was charging in attack towards goal. After a few minutes of Thwihli Thwahla looking dangerous in attack, Ronwen Williams and Kekana collided into each other as The Brazilians keeper was going for the ball mid-air. Kekana was forced to make his way off the field carried by Paramedics and Brian Onyango made his way on to play in the central defense.
With the game resuming, Teboho Mokoena tried his luck with a long range shot straight on target, but the Royal AM goalie Xolani Ngcobo stood firm to make the save. Masandawana began to show their intent more aggressively, Peter Shalulile controlled the ball well up front from a Williams pass, the striker tried to play the ball with Cassius Mailula but the flag went up for the youngster before taking his final shot.
The visitors didn’t look to sit back and watch the game, a goal scoring opportunity for Royal came up when Sedwyn George sneaked up behind Khuliso Mudau and hit the ball to the upright of Williams’ posts. Downs regained their possession and started their build up from the back, Mailula positioned himself in the right place at the right time to guide his strike and broke the deadlock to put Sundowns in the lead.
With the game slowly approaching the half hour mark, Marcelo Allende and Shalulile worked together to put the defense under pressure and forced Ricardo Nascimento to play his ball back to Ngcobo who was out of position and the ball went into the net and extended the lead for Masandawana. Aubrey Modiba also took his chance from the side towards goal and his shot went bouncing close to the goal line.
Themba Zwane stretched past defenders to fire right on target, but saw his attempt go straight to Ngcobo who made a clinical save to deny a third goal for Bafana Ba Style. Thabo Matlaba dispossessed Neo Maema of the ball at the back and frantically passed to his teammate Ruzaigh Gamaldien but the midfielder shot up high over the posts.
Shalulile put the home side 3-0 up with five minutes left to play in the first half, Allende combined with Maema then put a final pass to Khuliso Mudau who controlled the way of Shalulile and left it for the Namibian international striker who made no mistakes and sent the goalkeeper to the side. Masandawana went into the break leading with a dominant display on home ground, on the other hand Royal were left searching for a way to get back into the game.
The second period was a more lively start for The Brazilians, Chile international Allende came with an early opening opportunity in the second half after Royal AM lost possession, but his strike went high off target. A few minutes later Shalulile netted his second goal on the night from a corner kick delivered in by Modiba, the striker muddled up on to the ball in the box after the defenders failed to clear the ball.
Shalulile returned into action soon after his brace and laid the ball for Zwane who took a shot at goal, but was unfortunate to convert with the ball going inches over the top posts. Thwihli Thwahla pulled one back after Downs defense cleared out a corner kick the way of Lantshene Phalane who netted the only goal just before the clock hit 70 minutes firing a long range shot past Williams.
Royal AM’s celebrations didn’t last for long, Mothobi Mvala capitalized on a free header to make it 5 for Bafana Ba Style in the evening. Unfortunately for the home side, they had to witness Haashim Domingo being stretched off the field after receiving medical attention, the attacking midfielder made his way at the start of the second half together with Thapelo Morena.
Downs were forced to finish off the game with 10 men with 10 minutes left to go and held on to their lead. Royal had the last chance to pull one back into their books in extra time through Matlaba but nothing came from their efforts and the game ended with an incredible 5-1 for the Champion side.
Masandawana will now move their attention to the African cup competition as they travel to Sudan for the second leg of CAF Champions League against Al-Hilal..
This is how we lined up:
Williams, Kekana, Mudau(45′ Domingo), Mvala, Modiba, Mokoena, Allende (64′ Ralani), Zwane (77′ Mabena), Mailula (45′ Morena), Maema, Shalulile.
Subs: Pieterse, Boutouil, B. Onyango, Domingo, Mbule, Morena, Ralani, Mashego, Mabena.
Good display, good tactics from the coach and good selection. We played a very good football and I was happy to see the team score more goals. Bigup to coach for playing 16 years old boy, he looks good and there is more to come
Our team is playing extremely beautiful football. I’ve never seen a team playing such a football in Africa.We need to give Rulani the credit he deserves the man has turned our team into a monster in the the pitch,he is ticking all the correct boxes.Huge credit also to the conditioning department,i asked myself where did the team get this such high energy against Royal AM after we played a high demanding game against AL Ahly and eventually realized we have good hard working staff.I was really surprised by the energy coming from Maema,Shalulie and Zwane considering his age as we coach always says we supporters are grateful to to have such honest group of players and hard working staff.Special praise to Modiba,he had a fantastic game and also Mvala he had an awesome game,i was not happy with him against AL Ahly for not covering Modiba when he was beaten by Tau and also committing unnecessary bookable foul on Tau when he was already on a yellow card,against Royal AM he was flawless.Happy with the way Rulani introducing young players i say bravo coach.I was always questioning the logic in spending lot of money buying players while also spending lot of money on development. We need to trust and appreciate good job done by our development coaches.I think God support Sundowns because everything about Sundowns is exquisite and everything any Downs staff touches turns into gold.This are the results of hard work.