Ahead of tonight’s MTN8 semifinal second leg clash against SuperSport United, the club can confirm that four players will not be available for selection.
As confirmed by the medical team, Anthony Laffor, Mauricio Affonso, Emiliano Tade and Keletso Makgalwa are still nursing injuries.
Laffor has been undergoing rehabilitation for his knee post his surgery and has started training on the field, but not with the rest of the team. Affonso, who was the club’s first signing of the current season, is still yet to make his debut following an ankle injury and he, too, is training on his own for the moment.
Tade is another player still yet to feature for Sundowns this season because of a knee injury. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation and has begun some gym work and hoping for a speedy recovery. Makgalwa will be on the sideline for quite a while still.
The youngster was injured in our game against Cape Town City last month and underwent knee surgery four weeks ago. He has begun rehabilitation in the gym and is expected to still be out of action for at least another three months.
Today I wash my hands We will not win this trophy anytime soon and I don’t blame anyone on our side even though Sirino and Villa should have red carded according to me let’s soldier on.
Lastly Mr Coach I love you but pls rest Arendse usemdala manje ukhathele,Kby forever.
Eish playing Meza hayi! I would have tried Maboe, Villa or even Rantie.
We lost to a balanced organized team. Supersport deserves to be in the final. We should break the bank and get a central defensive midfielder. If we continue playing Cotzee we are going to struggle this season. I recall he struggled again Cape Town City. All not lost Masandawa a. We are still undefeated in the league.
I totally agree with you that boy is our weakest link, even on the second goal he didnt commit himself to stop the guy, his marking is not ayoba
I agree with you Themba Cotzee is struggling in that midfield I think Seabi can do better than him, we can’t win them all but we need collect maximum point against Maritzburg. KBY for ever ?
Our game lacked vigor with Coetzee as the chief culprit.There was no sense of agency,we lack hunger and aggression.I think is time we partner Lebusa and Bangaly bcoz Adrense looks tired and finished.We really need Jali ‘s aggression and hunger.We must also play Rantie against Maritzburg coz we are struggling infront of goals,even if we played another 90 minuets we would never have scored.We played like we were morning Mugabe’s death.We lacked energy and desire,we played like we were playing friendly game,it seemed like we confused the second league of MTN8 to that one of champions’ league bcoz we are leading 5-0.
Let us not fool ourselves that with “we can’t win them all”statement when we know that we last won our domestic cup in 2015.Having Jali who raises his hand everytime and leave him at home and put a defender on his place r one of the reasons we r not having good performances.How do you justify the inclusion of a player who has been injured for months in the starting line-up without fighting for the jersey,when Mkhulise&Lakay raised their hands in the champions league on Saturday?As for the inclusion of Ali Meza in the starting line-up it’s justified because you combine the goal tally of Maboe &Vilalazi combined they have scored less goals than Lebusa a defender nogal. The champions league is very elusive &very difficult to win if you consider challenges encountered in the process.Let us not give ourselves false hopes we r not having the core that won the champions league in 2016&they were young&vibrant and they feared nobody on the continent.Its time for an overhaul &bring fresh blood.Its not all bleak and gloom.Sundowns is a great team ,but we can’t 4get that Supersport always beat us in cup games and yesterday’s was just that we would have added 90 but still we were going to lose that game
I was shocked to see Rivaldo given first preference before Mabunda who had scored two goals from the previous game. Also why Pitso didn’t replace him after so many mistakes and for being a passenger in that game. Mkhulise & Lakay played very well and even scored in the previous game but were benched for no reason. Rivaldo didn’t mark, run and his passes’ were not accurate he was just a path. I blame Pitso for hating other players like Nghoma and Jali.
Favouritsm bite sundowns why Rivaldo ahead Mabunda is too slow he gave away ball twice Zwane just play exhibition soccer only Kekana takes shoots disgracefull to Pitso beaten by all rookies coaches
I totally agree with you that boy is our weakest link, even on the second goal he didnt commit himself to stop the guy, his marking is not ayoba
Hard luck Masandawana amahle but I must say I am very disappointed why play Meza this is not the time for experimenting in such crucial games and Pitso must stop converting Coetze to be a midlefilder is costing us big time and lastly I think Arendse must call it a day and we thank him for his contribution he has served us with flying colours. KBY I remain
The mission for last night’s game was to bring our defensive “A” game and stop Supersports from scoring and the Pitso failed dismally in an amateurish manner not befitting of a CAF Champions League winning coach. In my view the reason for this loss was bad starting eleven, inclusion of players who were not playing competitive games, inclusion of Rivaldo (who was terrible & not even trying to defend) ahead of Jali, Mabunda & Seabi, pedestrian defending by Langerman & Arendse, lack of hunger, vigor, aggression & commitment, no team work and lastly bad bad bad tactics.
TOUGH LUCK TO YOU ALL MASANDAWANA! It was just not meant to be! its painful to all the soccer lovers,its quite disturbing , we lost it gracefully and the quicker we accept it the better. It was a knockout and we lost to a better team of the two for the day. They play effective football, very effective, goals count more than any other thing, only what we remember now is a 2- nil score line, the ball possession issue does not count in a cup game. You lose you are out as easy as all that, those were very beautiful goals from Mokoena and Webber, wonderful goals from simple techniques ,picking a spot and putting power behind the ball on target. We can do the blame game to the Coach but l don’t see it that way. There were 11star players on the field of play, Supersport did not have 14 players but just 11 ordinary players who came with a determination, and a focus to go to the final. The team that played yesterday is a team that can still win five matches in a row, they just did not come to the party, all those goals were kicked in front of the defenders, who assume all strikers will want to do the dribbling business instead of closing them down quickly, actually those boys exposed us big time, No excuse of fatigue, injury ,referee, or whatsoever, sidliwe nje kwaphela!! I have seen many articles seeking Vila and Maboe out and the Couch did just that, which is good, he listened to the supporters views, he puts others, it does not work for the day, but to be honest , its all gambling, from a fifa break and a week more players not having a run, fresh is even easy to lose to the time that played. We had our chances ,we did not take them, i saw a clear cut chance in front of Ngconca , l did not see what ghost passed in front of him to miss , whether he was not anticipating it or not, then why in the box?? Rivaldo composure is just too much, quick strikers will always intercept his dangerous passes.
Coach Pitso replaced Villa and Maboe with the player he want to see him fail ( Ali Meza) and I believe that was his last chance ( The guy was on the transfare list all of suddenly brought him back, something fishy) while Maboe and Villa were given so many chances and failed. Why he didn’t try at least Nghoma as we all know that he can produce. Why Rivaldo instead of Mabunda and Jali? Ngconga will always play because he is under and an agent who is a friend to the coach.
Rivaldo must just go back to his central defensive role instead of playing as a holding midfielder! They are many players in that position in the team that can play in the central midfield (Mabunda, Jali, Mohomi, Manyisa, Seabi). I see no reason why Rivaldo cannot go back to his usually position that he has played the whole of his career. Yesterday he was the main culprit, giving away balls so cheaply and one of his mistake resulted in the team conceding a goal. He was not breaking any attacks in front of the defence. His patient passing game didn’t help the team going forward. Instead we needed a ball carrier like Jali. Probably he was not match fit since he was coming from injury. Mubunda could have been the preferred player to start along side Kekana. Langerman was out of the game, so was Arendse. I think the coach got it wrong on his starting line up, even though most of his favourate players did not come to the party. Rivaldo or Bangaly must take over from Arendse! Arendse can be played sparingly. He is old and has slowly down very terribly. Let’s hope the team will come back very strongly in the next game. They disappointed us in this game