A second half goal by Iqraam Rayners has handed coach Miguel Cardoso his first victory as a Brazilian, following a 1-0 scoreline over Raja Casablanca on Sunday afternoon at a packed Loftus Versfeld.
The unity that was called for by the head coach was evident on the pitch as we saw the Brazilians dominating but the game remained cagey, especially in the first stanza with both sides looking to break the deadlock. It is the hosts who pulled the first threat through Lucas Ribeiro who charged his way to the area but was tackled by the visitors to deny him a goal. Ribeiro forced more saves from the Raja Casablanca goalkeeper in the opening stanza.
The visitors had moments too, but their chances were not precise. With the titanic tussle going on between the two sides, no goals were seen as they headed to the break.
As soon as the second half kicked off, coach Miguel introduced Kutlwano Letlhaku who replaced Sphelele Mkhulise. Letlhaku had an immediate impact as he tried to open the scoring but his opportunity went sightly over the bar.
On the 65th minute, the only goal of the match finally came through Rayners. It started with Ronwen Williams who set up Letlhaku well on the right. Letlhaku then made a defence-splitting pass to Rayners who found space to shoot past the goalkeeper, putting his side in the lead.
Masandawana became more aggressive as they looked to extend their lead with more goals. Even with the seven minutes of added time, the scoreline remained 1-0, handing Downs their first victory in the group stages.
Bafana Ba Style will now shift their focus back to the domestic league, where they will face Stellenbosch FC on Wednesday evening.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Khoza, Lebusa, Mokoena, Mudau, Lunga, Maema, Mkhulise, Allende, Rayners, Ribeiro.
Subs: Onyango, Saavedra, Sales, Mashego, Letlhaku, De Reuck, Morena, Shalulile, Maboe.
Very much impressed with the commitment of the players,the attitude was right and ball rotation was very fast with lots of forward passes.Very much impressed with the tactical and technical aspects of the game,the coach was able to alter the tactics and make substitutions according to the demands of the game.Too early to judge but so far too good,let’s wait and see how we are going to perform in the local games.
Sundowns is always Sundowns don’t try 2 change so drastically everything otherwise Sundowns won’t b Sundowns.Thats what Mngqithi dd.I was impressed by Sundowns performance,run,commitment and energy.But Ribeiro Ribeiro one day you’ll cost us dearly,u should have passed 2 Lunga &u disposessed& u should hav passed the ball 2 Khuliso bt u were disposessed& again u skipped the ball 4 a dummy 2 ur teammate again disposessed look at ur teammates when making a run.But Cardosso I believe u r on the right track and what I like is team spirit.
In January let’s recall Mbule,Ighodaro and Nassir we are thin upfront and I was happy the way we were playing and our coach is shouting not just sit the whole game only to comment afterwards.
Good luck but I’m afraid to those players who sabotage Mnqithi and politics that’s happening in our camp. Mnqithi wasn’t given nessesary support to build a formidable team as he wanted. You just signed one player all along. Only Pitso who build sundowns because more than than 70% players were signed by him.
Mlandeli Philani which support Manqoba was not given? The team was built long time ago so which one that Manqoba wanted to build… Manqoba failed to manage the team, and Manqoba has been there for 12 years, is not new so what is it that he wanted to build.. Manqoba is a coward and confuse coach.. He wanted to build his own legacy personal not Sundowns legacy unfortunately he failed in the begging… He has all players you might think off but failed to use it..