Mamelodi Sundowns are through to the quarterfinals of the Carling Knockout Cup following a 1-0 victory against Marumo Gallants at Loftus Versfeld. It is Siyanda Ndlovu’s strike that won the match for the Pretoria-based side on Tuesday night.
There was a sluggish start to the match, with both sides denying each other real chances early in the game. It is only after the 15th minute more action was witnessed at Loftus.
The visitors tested Downs goalkeeper, Ricardo Goss on the 19th minute, with a strike outside the box but he caught the ball. A minute later, a good build-up which started from Goss saw Masandawana finding the back of the net. The came ball that came from the right flank found Ndlovu who scored an impossible goal – from a tight angle – to break the deadlock.
Just before the half-hour mark, a box entry by Gallants almost levelled matters but a slide tackle by Malibongwe Khoza denied them, to keep Madandawana ahead.
Although the hosts were leading, Bahlabane Ba Ntwa kept the Downs defence at work, as they looked for an equaliser. The scoreline, however, remained 1-0 at the break.
In the first three minutes of the match, Bafana Ba Style had already threatened the Gallants defence. Iqraam Rayners had an opportunity to score just in front of goal but Gallants managed to snatch the ball off his feet before shooting.
On the 54th minute, Gallants created their biggest chance on the left flank when a cross was made. Before the ball could find someone to connect, Khoza made an important clearance to deny the visitors.
Rayners almost found a second goal for the hosts on the 56th minute but the keeper came off his mark to stop him. Rayners found the rebound which was, however, blocked. A minute later, Gallants drove the ball to the other half and Goss was tested again from the left side. Goss, however, came off his mark to punch the ball away with his right hand.
With ten minutes left to the game, Rayners dribbled past the defence as he made a run to the box. He was, however, caught on the left flank when a Gallants defender snatched the ball off his feet.
Although, they could not get more goals in the second half, Ndlovu’s only goal of the match was enough for the Brazilians to advance to the next round.
How we lined up: Goss, Khoza, Mvala ©, Morena, Basadien, Cele, Mkhulise, Sales, Ndlovu, van Wyk, Rayners.
Subs: Onyango, Ndamane, van Rooyen, Modiba, Allende, Matthews, Santos, Leon, Saleng.
Good Afternoon Dawanas,there’s something that bothers me at Downs since many years ago.This is my problem,at Downs it seems We don’t believe in our academy or our youngsters this thing has been happening for too long now,we promote one or two players and keep on buying expensive players and my problem this coaches they believed in youngsters when they coach other teams but once they come to us they keep on buying or it’s because the money is available I really don’t know.
Even now we are struggling with scoring goals because our social media addict Leon is firing blanks and keep on collecting cards and Rayners is so poor you can bet he doesn’t train whereas Bennet Mokoena is demoted to DDC together with Lethlaku,even our new recruit Lazola will not play he will be loaned out maybe to Tuks like they normal do,we’ve got many of our players on Tuks e.g Aphelele Teyo,a striker from CTC and our young leftback we just bought from Casric few months back.
I bet or putting my head on the block if Rele and Mbokazi came to us they would still be playing on our DDC or Tuks by now,look at Pirates with their youngsters especially Masilela the boy is hot.I once asked why are we keep on having this developments even from U9 if we don’t believe in our own players,lastly Downs must stop this thing of being generous even when the players reach the ceiling,next season the following players must go Zwane,Morena,Onyango,Kekana,Johannes,Aubaas and Rayners etc we don’t owed them it’s time for young blood.
I must agree with you member…i love sundowns with all my heart but what’s happening is very sad, we don’t scare anyone anymore….i bet our players don’t know what’s the real high press anymore or what counter attack is…if we win the ball we wait for opponents to regroup…then we want to attack…even our players lack the confidence of shooting at goals…mara bafwethu…aowa….we are becoming a lucky one goal team….re defender di one goals…really? our young players are even now afraid to express themselves and take on opponents…thats how Cassius s mistake comes from…knowing him, he could have turned that guy around, but because they are being overcoached: they are now afraid to use their skills…they receive a bull they want to pass back not forward….at this rate we are still going to be embarrassed i am afraid (PLEASE MANAGEMENT DO SOMETHING THE GIANT IS DYING)
I’ve got a firm belief that Sundowns managers r deliberately sabotaging development coaches.I mean we had Makgalawa Sundowns bought Maseko a player who played almost 2 seasons not scoring a single league goal except in AFL.Keagan Allen sold Kekana was brought.Mabena,Letlhaku,Bennet Mokoena can’t b selected bt we r subjected to Sales who can’t trap,yesterday we just watched a flop playing rubbish bcoz he’s white[Sales]bcoz is speaking Portuguese that 1 has lost his.Whats the use of having Gomolemo,Bennett,Letlhaku and b subjected to what we witnessed yesterday.As for Cardoso to b knocked out of CAF and subjected us to such poor performance.I don’t know if his screws r tight upstairs,Cardoso released Shalulile only to c that shit that was played by Leone in Caf then Rayners yesterday.I mean 2 cows who can’t score a one on one with the keeper.Its like these shit can’t dribble &while there’s another Brahman in Mothiba.Letlhaku had a man of the match performance bt is left at home bcoz there’s a favorite to play bile bt rewarded with a starting lineup.I thought Cardoso has discarded his stupidity bt its back to 10 step backs.
One of our members on this platform said he will never praise Cardoso even if he can win trophies and in the past two games i understand why.Our team is dying a slow death like Man U,Chiefs and ANC .Our biggest problem is our management,there is no way a management with a sane mind could tolerate what happened in the champions league.Most of the things are not right at Downs,there is lot of favoritism and lack of vision mostly on the management’s side.They still planning to participate in the 2029 Club word cup with the likes of Zwane,Onyango,William,Kekana,Morena,Aubaas and Modiba.I was shocked to see Onyanga on the team sheet on Tuesday.Majority of our players lack hunger and our style of play is passive with no counter press upfront.Our management don’t analyse our games or they watch our games like ordinary soccer fun.It is totally unacceptable for a team of Downs’ caliber with the miiliions we spent on players to have fewer shoots on target than Marumo Galliants,only a fool can tolerate that. Letlhaku,Mokoena,Kekana and Mabena would be far in their career if they were not playing for us.We fail to be patient with our young players yet we sign old rejects from our enemies.Our management is sleeping on duty or they don’t understand what they are doing.