Mamelodi Sundowns returned to the DStv Premiership with a 1-0 victory over Marumo Gallants at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday night.
Sphelele Mkhulise’s superb goal sealed a 1-0 triumph for Bafana Ba Style, Downs produced a brilliant movement of the ball with Mkhulise shooting past Washington Arubi from a close range. The home team scored the only goal of the game on 28 minutes to ensure that they reclaim the top spot in the league.
Starting things off was Marcelo Allende who put Gallant’s goalie to the test with his shot, but was unfortunate not to see the ball at the back of the net. Downs enjoyed spells of dominance with their classic ball possession, back to back opportunities for Themba Zwane after going past his man saw his powerful shot go across the face of goal.
Shortly after his first attempt, Mshishi’s left footed shot looked promising to open the score lines, but his effort went wide before the linesman’s flag went up for offside. After playing for 20 minutes without a goal on either side, Teboho Mokoena was next in line to put Masandawana in front. Khuliso Mudau layed off a pass to Mokoema who knocked it with his left but the ball deflected off target.
Moments before going into the break the match sparked into life, Mkhulise put Masandawana in the lead with his close range finishing which would seal a thrilling 1-0 win for the home team. After the break, the game continued to explode into life, shortly after Gallants restarted the game they lost possession and had to work tirelessly to stop Masandawana from playing in their half.
Excitement was showing for The Brazilians, Mudau pushed forward from the right side flank to put the ball in for Mokoena who let out a strong shot which hit against the side net. Downs showed to be ruthless in their attack and ran rampant in front of their fans, meanwhile Gallants continued to search for answers.
At the brink of the half hour mark, the Tshwane giants applied more pressure and went on to attack with Sirino, the Uruguay international forward was brought down in the box but the referee allowed for play to continue. The frantic visitors continued to look for an equalizer, Katlego Otladisa and Lesiba Nku challenged Ronwen Williams in his half, but the Downs defense could not be beaten.
Sundowns made their first changes with 20 minutes left to play, Thapelo Morena, Haashim Domingo and Bongani Zungu came on, followed by Cassius Mailula and Lebohang Maboe. The Brazilians continued to impress in play with their ball rotation and box entries, but were let down by their final touches. Gallants had one last chance to equalize as the game reached its end, a play in set piece met Ahmadou Soumaro who thought had scored an equalizer but the linesman flag went up, causing an uproar.
Masandawana are back on the number one spot in the DStv Premiership with 22 points from 10 games played.
This is how we lined up: R. Williams,k. Mudau (80′ Mailula), M. Lebusa, R. De Reuck, G. Kekana, M. Mvala (73′ Zungu), T. Mokoena, S. Mkhulise (80′ Maboe), T. Zwane ©, G. Sirino (73′ Domingo), M. Allende (73′ Morena).
Subs: D. Onyango, T. Morena, C. Mailula, A. Jali, L. Maboe, H. Domingo, G. Motupa, B. Ralani, B. Zungu.
Where is Nassir
What a boring game and we haven’t learned from our previous games that we should scored many goals as we can but we are only obsessed with possession as if its a boxing match.
A striker(Motupa)was sitting on the bench the whole game whereas we struggled to score and it seems this co-coaches want to prove among themselves whose the best on selecting the best line up,we released the hard working Sofranko and keep the injury prone Saavedra.
If there are Downs faithfuls who are happy about this performance of our team which means we don’t know soccer,this performance reminds me the days of Angem Cappa and Henri Michel etc,topping the log playing like this which means there’s no soccer anymore here in SA and my biggest worry is Champs League which is around the corner and if I was in the stadium yesterday I wouldn’t have sang after the game,what a pathetic display.
@Muzi haibo!!!! We were playing beautiful football under Cappa,Maybe u only watched 2 or 3 games under him🙄……almost every player is getting a chance to play these days, BT IT’S A DIFFERENT STORY FOR LESEDI KAPINGA,Maboe is coming back from a lengthy injury,bt he is making the matchday squad and even started in the champions league game,what message is the technical team sending to other players????
I was one who supported Wisemen but now its not working let’s go for one coach really if we are serious about making Sundowns an international team that will be feared again across the whole continent, lastly Mngqithi was praising our new Morrocan guy but come match day they fielded Lebusa in a position he last played at while at Ajax, we got three leftback but they chose the latter and this thing of the so called in every pre match “players ruled out”is really boring because we don’t know whether the mentioned players are injured or not and I won’t be surprised if they come with Kutumela on Saturday and Motupa on grandstand.
They are players whom we signed just to sing after the game not playing. This is not Downs we can brag about nowadays with the players we have opponents should be beaten with avalanche of goals but its not like that we shiver the whole game till the final whistle.
1st half performance good but 2nd half we were terrible.With this kind of attitude from the technical team we are going nowhere,it shows that they are playing their favorite players not players who are performing.What more must Motupa do deserve playing time,he scored two beautiful goals the previous game and you put him on the bench for 94 minutes when the team is struggling upfront,the same goes to Mailula,we lacked creativity and sharpness upfront and you play Domingo who is fresh from injury ahead of Mailula who scored two goal in the champions league,you are like taking one step forward and then take another ten steps backward.No player will develop under your leadership.You are our elephant in the room.Allende was nowhere to be seen yet he played more minutes,Sirino was in and out of the game and you took long to replace him,Zwane was tired in the last quarter of the game yet is Mkhukise who still had energy to go forward and defend who was replaced. Zungu is not ready and will never be ready to play this season.If you were wise as you are called wise men and serious about the progress of this team you will recall Mkhize from Chippa in January,truth be told there is nothing wise about this technical tam.The team can’t struggle like that when you are sitting with the solution on the bench hence i’m saying there is nothing wise about you.All i see in you is cowards,remember once you leave our team it is the end of your coaching career,Mokoena can attest to that.In all different kind of jobs coaches are the most stupid employees,you play your favorite players then a team is under performing or reach the height were the owners want it to be then you get fired and the same players you are doing favors remain.
Co-supporters hayi I rest my case here it’s like Mngqithi&Rulani are competing for who is a better fool between themselves.Where was Mailula,Motupa who scored the previous game?A find of the season Cassius,was just another scientific exercise.Sundowns hasn’t gelled for how many games,how long have we complained about Mngqithi&Rulani.Who will be playing on Saturday?Its high time for real coaches now not this circus
I’m happy we won but the way sundowns play this days yaah is bad, why hate motupa so much? those coaches have problems with some of the players eg, kapinga, motupa, mkhuma and many more. It seems like you are competing among yourselves please guys stop what you are doing before you destroy our yellow submarine
We were very blunt upfront 2nd half, also thought Motupa will get a run after showing sharpness in the previous game.
Guys no need complain on here just apply anger at stadium direct to this coaches special to Manqoba he had final words this guys have not techniques they just coaches by certificates knowledge dololo u can see how the one glue on chair shows has nothing applied or to tell players Steve should be head coach