Following a 2-0 defeat against TS Galaxy at the Solomon Mahlangu Stadium, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Nedbank Cup journey has come to an end. The first-half goals by the Mpumalanga-based side saw Bafana Ba Style make an exit in the Round of 16 on Saturday afternoon.
Heading to this encounter, coach Miguel Cardoso made numerous changes to his squad from the one that played in their last two matches.
In what was a sold-out affair, the match promised to be a mouthwatering one, with both sides looking to get a breakthrough in the early minutes of the opening half. It is, however, the hosts that broke the deadlock in the 19th minute. The goal came from an interception of Divine Lunga’s attempt to clear the ball from danger in the area. Galaxy then finished past Denis Onyango.
Nuno Santos came close to levelling matters when he curled the ball over the top corner after he struck a free-kick shot from the edge of the box.
In the 32nd minute, the hosts managed to double their advantage after pressurising the Downs defence inside the box. While Galaxy looked to take a shot, Thato Sibiya’s tackle inside the box led to the referee pointing on the spot. The penalty taken sent Onyango in the opposite direction. After a frustrating opening half, Masandawana went to the interval trailing by two goals.
Bafana Ba Style looked to make a comeback in the second stanza through Malibongwe Khoza, who fired a shot from range. He was unlucky to see the goalkeeper tip it over the bar to deny him. Ten minutes later, the keeper was tested again, this time by substitute Tashreeq Matthews. Matthews sent a powerful shot, but the keeper came out as he dived to the nearside of the area to block the shot.
The visitors almost conceded their third goal of the day in the closing stages of the match, as a one-on-one situation threatened the defence. Onyango, however, sensed the danger on time and made a save.
The Brazilians continued to apply pressure and look for goals that would turn things around, but their hosts held on until the very end, seeing the Pretoria-based side making an early exit in the cup competition.
How we lined up: Onyango ©, Johannes, Khoza, Lunga, Sibiya, Allende, Santos, Reisinho, Ntsabeleng, Letlhaku, Shalulile.
Pieterse, Mudau, Morena, Modiba, Mkhulise, Zwane, Adams, Matthews, Leon.
Lack of respect to games and the whole yellow nation family by the technical team,you just can’t make 10 changes on the starting 11.In football there are no guarantees,it doesn’t mean when you reserve players for your next game,you are going to win that game.We listen and observe therefore our coach is untruthful when he always say we take one game at a time,his team selection showed he was thinking about our next game and that is unprofessional.We have stupid technical team and players,you can’t insist on playing a system that is not yielding good results.We have lost many games and millions because of playing from the back,the very same millions that were gonna change their lives and that of their families.Last season we lost Nedbank,champions league and knocked out of Club World cup because of stupid playing from the back.This season we also gave Sewelele a goal,Gomora a goal and also over the weekend we gave away a goal because of the same stupid playing at the back without purpose.Manqoba was sabotaged by players because he was playing only for scoring goals and results.Each team has its own style of play we can’t go around copying other teams style of play,it means we are undermining our own system and we don’t believe in our self,it takes only fools not to learn from their mistakes,just imagine DJ Tira trying to be Chris Brown or Makhadzi trying to be Beyonce when they are famous because of their own style of music,it will be a foolish thing to do.My observation is that our coach is been bullied by certain players,during the 1st league of last season’s final of the champions league after we scored the goal coach was encouraging players to go forward and Williams was telling them to slow down,we did not go forward anymore and Pyramids equalized.