Mamelodi Sundowns remained on the top spot in the DStv Premiership after securing a hard-fought goalless draw against Cape Town City.
The goalfest anticipated ahead of the encounter did not come to pass as a hard fought affair unfolded at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening. Masandawana extended their unbeaten run to start the season to ten games after their meeting with The Citizens, it was a game of the highest quality, a thriller between two of the best teams in the DStv Premiership and it nearly carried a late sting at both ends.
In the early stages, Bafana Ba Style’s defender Mosa Lebusa blocked a threatening goal scoring attempt by Mduduzi Mdantsane after 20 minutes of ongoing attack from both sides. City continued with their attacking momentum when Fagrie Lakay had a breakthrough in transition forming a 2v1 towards The Brazilians’ final third, his promising shot at goal however went wide past the goal.
Downs’ resilient form was stopped with a head collision between Thabiso Kutumela and City’s defender Nathan Fasika which gave the visitors a foul right outside the penalty area. Haashim Domingo, who received the man of the match award for his brilliant performance stepped up to take the free kick and looked to hand his side a lead in the game but Hugo Marques made no mistakes and saved the on target shot.
Masandawana went into the halftime break with the majority of the ball possession as both sides were in high-tempo mode from the off. The second half of the encounter was a physical battle with both sides receiving two yellow cards each. It was all Sundowns in terms of the attacking threat with Domingo adding to the shots on target count but unfortunate to score. The Citizens followed with their own attack and scrambled to find spaces in Downs penalty box with a promising shot at Denis Onyango but it was not to be.
Kutumela, who’d been having a busy game, created an opening for himself with a long range shot at Marques from Divine Lunga’s pass, his effort at goal met the top of City’s goalposts. Despite all the changes made by the home team, the visitors had posted a warning down the side.
Masandawana’s perseverance playing out from the back almost cost them dear towards the end of the game as City regained possession in their territory from Andile Jali’s miscalculated pass. Change of play in Downs upon the second-half was remarkable, Mothobi Mvala, Lyle Lakay, Neo Maema and George Maluleka replaced Divine Lunga, Thapelo Morena, Haashim Domingo and Thabiso Kutumela. Maema’s remarkable footwork was almost rewarded with a goal for Sundowns in the dying minutes of the encounter. Although both teams were unfortunate not to find the back of the net, the draw did favour Sundowns as they continued with their successive clean sheets and an unbeaten record in the league.
This is how we lined up: D. Onyango, M. Lebusa © , D. Lunga (76′ Lakay), K. Mudau, G. Kekana, A. Jali, T. Morena (76′ Mvala), T. Kutumela, T. Zwane, H. Domingo, P. Shalulile
Subs: R. Pieterse, G. Maluleka, L. Lakay, N. Maema, P. Safranko, R. De Reuck, S. Vilakazi, G. Sirino, M. Mvala.
Our coach Mngqithi said he never satisfied with a draw so do we the supporters.Sometimes its no use to fixed something which is not broken and I’ll keep on saying Shalulile needs a stong partner upfront like Sofranko or Motupa not Zwane or Kutumela those are very effective playing behind the strikers.
Let’s not overload the poor boy but anyway we are still good with our mission and thanks for still not conceding a goal thus far.Kby forever.
Exactly my point. This smacks of favoritism and demoralize other players. How do you explain to the players you’ve just substituted with returning players? We’ve got some tough games coming up before we break for December, hopefully the three wiseman are planning for that.
The Coaches this one technically they lost it. Agreed Gift or Safranko should have been given a chance. To defend upfront to stop Mkhize and Mashigo going forward. I could see that whenever Zwane had ball 3 players were closing him down. He was supposed to be replaced and Morena he did not give much. It seems like we are loosing a very skillful Gaston Coaches they are falling to motivate him. We did not boss the game we were scared of City we didn’t make changes earlier and we brought on mthobi and George to defend. Neo came late too. I think Coaches they must work on the creativety upfront we are not creating enough opportunities and we do not release a ball fast enough and Middlefielders they are very slow to get in the box sometimes it becomes difficult for Shalulile because he end up being marked by 3 players.
Why fix something that is not broken?.Our coaches, especially, Mokoena, like to complicate things for nothing, Soccer is not computer. Maema who was twice man of the match, they decided to put him on the bench for almost the entire game. What special our coaches see on Kutumela and Mvala, they are not Sundowns materials. Please, Sirino, Matupa, Maluleka, Mulusi, Kapinga should be given chance, they are far better than those I mentioned. And why taking so long to make changes? These co-coaches system does not work, too much personal ego, we only one head coach, who for me must be Mngqithi.
Our coaches are like a chameleon,when it changes its ugly colour to a beautiful one,you praise it and boom,it reverts back to its usual nonsense colour, that is what those coaches are.The game was not difficult for us but those 3 coaches made it tough for players.If your are clever,how do you bench players who won you the last game with distinction?.Maema and Safranko should have started that game,there’s a good understanding between them and Shaulile and Zwane.You could see Zwane started to play when after the introduction of Maema,Maema got two consecutive man of the match because of his creativity,assists and goals scoring ability,Safranko scored on our last game,it takes only a fool to bench players for performing well.This favouritism will make you exit our team.Remember you are nothing without Sundowns, you can’t win a trophy without us and we can win trophies without you go ask Billiat,Mphahlele and Castro.Kutumela can’t just come from injury and walk straight to the starting 11 ahead of players who won us games in his absence,if he was so special we would have struggled when he was injured and won yesterday when he was back.Shaulile needed Safranko to help him deal with those City strong central defenders and Maema for his creativity and penetration.A big brand like Sundowns with all the quality players and resources can’t travel all the way to Cape Town planning to get a draw,even a blind person could see that was a planned draw.We don’t need cowards in our team and we are not saying win all the games but always play the Sundowns’ way.Morena and Kutumela didn’t deserve to play more than 50 minutes.Please always play players who are performing well and replace them when they are struggling not bench them for performing well.Stop your nonsense of favoritism and select a team on merit.Most of us tend to blame Rulani when the team is struggling but what I’ve noticed is that when Mnqhoba is the one doing the interviews that’s when we are struggling.Some things just don’t make sense put Mvala when you want to score goals knowing very well that he is going to disrupt the momentum of the game by making fouls and Maluleka who never played 30 minutes up to this far a head of the players who have given you goals and assists throughout the season.
When facing a team like Cape Town City u have to consider so many things &one of those things are that it’s hard to beat them.They kind of play our style of football by starting at the back.By Mvala & some other players that are not our favourite people calling them not Sundowns material,I believe that’s where we are wrong because Mvala was bought by the present technical team ,including the current coaches.Mvala must be given a fair chance to show us why he is at Sundowns.What I like is that he has already scored 3 goals from the substitute bench.The 3 coaches have achieved the unthinkable by winning the MTN8 and again let’s look at the biggest leagues throughout the world Sundowns is the only team to have played 10 games ¬ conceded a single goal & that’s an achievement on its own.I never agreed with the selection of Rivaldo in middle of the park but look at him.Everybody has been calling Safranko a rugby player but now we need him because the coaches defied us&proved us wrong.Mvala,Lunga & anyone who looks like is having a stage fright must be given a chance until they are settled,we are 5 points ahead of every one with a game.Sundowns has a Champions League project to take care of,so we need abo Mvala & Lunga in right frame of mind.Kutumela is a great player maybe an injury has hindered his progress.We can worry now only about the Nedbank cup but the league is in the bag.We have played catch-up matches with games in hand but with fewer points but already it’s game in hand and 5 points ahead.We r still going to stumble at Stellenbosch because they also bring their A game, so again the coaches must take a cautious approach if we don’t win we must ensure they don’t win too. In me Rhulani,Mnqgithi&Steve u receive my undivided support,How are we going to know player’s strength if we’re ensuring that they are not selected because we happen not to like them or are not our favourites?But late substitution hayi I condemn it coaches stop that we r having a prevelege of 5 substitutes.Kaboyelo I remain.
Heita masandawana, I’m happy we didn’t concede or loose the game, I’m pretty sure that on Wednesday you field the right team to win the game, pls man give kapinga, Sirino and mutupa a fair chance like others
Football is a game of opinions and we are still going to lose matches and thats what makes football interesting but if people expect Sundowns to win each an every game they play then maybe we are not living on planet Earth.