The first game in the second round of the DStv Premiership against Baroka had all the ingredients for a top game and it showed when the two sides locked horns at Loftus Versfeld. Mamelodi Sundowns made no changes to the starting eleven that did duty in the CAF Champions League over the weekend, Promise Mkhuma and Haashim Domingo made thier way into the matchday squad.
The Brazilians were the first to show hunger as early as the third minute as Mothobi Mvala saw his shot blocked and the rebound fell for Lyle Lakay whose effort sailed past the Baroka goal. The visiting side showed their set-piece prowess as Ananias Gebhardt rose high to head the ball but Denis Onyango was alert to the danger as he made the save. In the seventeenth minute Lakay had a go with a free-kick on the edge of the box which was deflected and only slightly troubled Elvis Chipezeze in goal.
Bakgaga had an opportunity to take the lead after Evidence Makgopa found himself facing Onyango but his tame shot was collected by Onyango with ease. Shortly after, Gaston Sirino found acres of space on the right-hand side and played a pass to Peter Shalulile but the Namibian was judged to be offside. With two minutes left before half-time Mash Mphahle struck a shot from meters away but it went straight to the hands of the Masandawana number one. The first half ended with the score at 0-0.
Early in the second half, Masandawana made a change as Kermit Erasmus came in for Mvala to add firepower to the attack. The visitors looked like they were finding their rhythm and managed to put passes to get and a chance fell for substitute Josylyn Kamatuka but his shot was not on target.
It took sixty-three minutes for Bafana Ba Style to take the lead as Sirino found himself behind the Baroka defence after a great pass from the substitute Erasmus to beat Chipezeze and score his second for the season. The shoeshine and piano football was on display as the Brazilians showed dominance by putting together some great passes. Shalulile grabbed the second goal of the day as he finished off a rebound after a shot by Erasmus was saved by the visitor’s keeper. Romeo had a chance to extend the lead in the seventy-fourth minute but his shot hit the woodwork.
Baroka almost grabbed a goal after Onyango misjudged the flight of the ball and Mfanafuthi Shozi saw his effort headed away by Ricardo Nascimento on the line.
The game ended 2-0, with The Brazilians continuing their unbeaten run and being the first side to record ten victories.
How we lined up: Onyango, Maboe ( Kapinga 84′), Nascimento, Lebusa, Lakay, Coetzee, Mkhulise (Morena 75′), Mvala ( Erasmus 54′), Sirino ( Domingo 84′), Zwane, Shalulile
Subs: Goss, Modiba, Morena, Kapinga, De Reuck, Domingo, Jali, Erasmus, Mkhuma
Firstly I want to commend our webmaster for always spot on in reporting unlike few years back it took day or two to get some fresh news.
Secondly I would like to apologize to our fellow Dawanas in blaming Mvala I was the one who accused them of being harsh to the guy but now I agree with those guys who kept on blaming Mvala. Serious the poor guy is our weakest link to our team and I find it difficult how he got to be in starting eleven always ahead of others.
You can even see when he was substituted We play our normal game which is dominating and scoring,and I’m begging our Wisemen to stop fielding him in our next games its too much for him really now he’s a hated guy.
Zwane pls pull up your socks that performance is not like you once again thanks for the win, Kby forever
Onyango was “massive” yesterday, he was the main reason we went into halftime still level pegging. Erasmus made the difference in the 2nd half and he could’ve even got the goal himself. I thought Onyango was supposed to have been the MOM
Firstly, I must thank the coaches for the substitutions made. The bench won us yesterday’s game.Otherwise, we were exposed from the word- go. At times, even our most experienced defender-captain (Nascimento) find himself wanting. Baroka was able to capitalise from Mvalaposition, coming up to Rivaldo. The slowness of the two nearly get us beaten at least two if not three goals before half time. Put together are just a wrong combination. Coaches should never pair them again. So far we are not as yet sharp as a team, and meanwhile we are halfway towards the end of the league.I wonder when are we going to get settled and start taking our chances, improve our performance, and show urgency.Even the likes of Mshishi is not that convincing for me.He is not the Mshishi of 2020. In some of the games you tend to believe he should have been replaced/ substituted.
Anyhow,lets see what is in our next fixture and goodluck to the boys.KBY
Muzi,it takes a real gentleman to acknowledge his mistakes.Against Chippa and Stellenboch we created missed lots of chances bcoz Mvala was not there,even Dan Malesela said they were lucky not get hammered.Downs is not a that rely on set-pieces,we are a carpet football playing team,whoever wants to turn us into set pieces team should just go to Nturena.We stated playing our usual football,created chances and scored goals after Mvala was replaced,the poor guy can’t even pass the ball.He can only help us when we want to protect our lead or on CAF away games.What puzzles me is,we only see the plays during the game but we understand them better than the technical team who spend most of their lives with them.We changed the team that started the season very scoring goal and stuck with the team that produced lots of draws until that red card.I’m angry because the technical team make the team ordinary and to struggle unnecessarily so.We could be invincible this season if we can make relevant team selection and play the way we did against Chippa,Stellenboch and the 54th minutes of Baroka game.Some of us left the work early and rushed to watch game but,what we saw in the first half was disappointing.Yes Temba needs to pull up his socks and i also agree Onyango should have been the man of the match,he really saved us,had Baroka scored first we were gona have a tough game.To the technical team don’t be lazy,before you analyze your opponents,analyze the performance of your team during the previous game.I said it before.we should make teams fear coming Tshwane.Lastly thanks for the unnecessary hard fought victory.
Happy for the victory we edge the technical team to rest Mvala or convert him to a defender he lose balls cheaply, bt I like his energy he can cover the distance
first and foremost Kermit Romeo Erusmas single handedly won us the game yesterday and I hope and pray that our technical team can see why . I don’t know what has off late given our technical team cold feet , we used to play with Msishi Romeo and Shalulile upfront and we were suffocating life out of these teams , umbuzo umile kwa tshintsha ntoni Coaches ?Sundowns is fluid in all departments there is no Need for three defensive midfields Riva with Mkhulise or Jali is Enough
PLEASE TECHNICAL TEAM DONT BE COWARDS WITH ALL THE FIREPOWER AT YOUR DISPOSAL
Good results we are on our way to defend our league,, I wish to see Mdhluli making his debut
We play in CAF champions League , Ned bank cup & the DStv premier League . We have a chance to groom our yiungsters
A tough game I must say, however it was a huge win considering the fact that we will only get to play the league game in March
What a season for us! I would like to acknowledge the yellow nation. The yellow nation has remained solid even unto this date , silencing all the critics and haters.
It can not go without pinpointing the technical team, so far so good they have done what they could. They have tried with a new squad to be wherever they are, imagine work in progress doing that much, what then shall happen when the work is complete?Proud!
The team is doing well, grinding results, its quite sometime since we last saw Sundowns with a good start. For that reason l stand tall and say well done to the team, they have made us proud.We continue to celebrate post sir Pitso era. What more should we ask for, it is clear the team is doing right, we always know Sundowns are good finishers and bad starters. But this time around we now await to see how we shall treat the last games. We are persuaded for even better things, we still wait to see which team will be the first to be white washed by five goals to nil, the potential is there, l have seen fast short passes in the box of course overdone if they shall be converted, imagine the they we can convert 70% of our chances. l love the competition these days everyone is extra careful.
Mvala is not our weakest link, he is playing , he is slow, but he executes his duty well, he may not be as fast as we expect him but that man does all the dirt work in the middle of the park. If he is not given time to play, he may never get a chance , he has a tried and tested set of players on the bench. He must get the chance. This game was tough, we know Baroka always hurt us in Pretoria, the fact that this time we got six points from them we must be grateful unto the boys. Well done, many teams are yet to give us full points and some four points. KBY