Going into this game Masandawana had a good run after beating Golden Arrows and log leaders Kaizer Chiefs, even with this loss against Baroka the Brazilians still remain in second spot with fifty-three points with two games to go.
Coach Pitso Mosimane made one change to the side and brought in Andile Jali for the injured Rivaldo Coetzee. The home-side started off well and put Bakgakga on the backfoot and searched for an early goal but the resilient defence led by captain Vusi Sibiya stood tall and allowed nothing to pass them. Masandawana kept on pushing for the opener and in the seventeenth minute Lyle Lakay put a perfect ball for Gaston Sirino but the Uruguayan could not find a perfect touch to finish it off.
It took a set-piece for Baroka to find the back of the net as Tshediso Patjie swang in a corner that found Ananias Gebhardt who out jumped the Masandawana defence and beat Kennedy Mweene to take the lead. Lakay in the thirty-six minute drilled in a free-kick that missed and went inches wide of Ayanda Dlamini’s goals.The first forty-five minutes ended with the Brazilians trailing behind.
Masandawana were the first to show their intentions as Sirino made a pass to Captain Hlompho Kekana and the skipper tried to chip Dlamini but his shot went over the bar. Sirino was at the end of a great long pass from Kekana and had his shot blocked by the visitors defender and still could not find the back of the net. With the time ticking Coach Pitso Mosimane called on his troops from the bench to come in and change the game. The Brazilians kept on pressing for the equaliser but Baroka stood firm and substitute Promise Mkhuma made a good run into the box and unleashed a shot that was goal bound but it took a deflection.
In added time Sirino saw his curler saved by Dlamini as the visitors took all three points but the Brazilians are still tied up with Kaizer Chiefs with two games to go.
Next up for Mamelodi Sundowns is Polokwane City on Wednesday, 2 September at 6PM.
How we lined up:
Mweene, Ngcongca(69’ Makgalwa), Madisha, Lebusa, Lakay, Kekana, Jali (53’ Vilakazi, 63’ Maboe), Mkhulise (69’ Mahlambi), Zwane, Sirino, Meza (53’ Mkhuma)
Subs:
Pieterse, Makgalwa, Mahlambi, Mabunda, Vilakazi, Maboe, Langerman, Nascimento, Mkhuma
We were beaten by a better side. Baroka looked more convincing from first whistle. The goal scored against us is just disappointing. Defence repeating same ball watch mistake,no picking of opponents, mweene not leaving the goal- line to come assist with aerial ball. What a high school boys mistake. Pitso please sometimes certain players do not worth playing 90 minutes, while some do not fit game plan for the day. Honestly I expected u to know better coach,we just failed to make ourselves a favour this time. Wits tried making our lives easy but no,once more we just wanted to keep chasing that leading. I don’t expect any more favours going forward.
hard luck masandawan but players are the professionals should have known better a religation team is difficult to play against them, there were not suppose to underestimate them
Even our goal keeper didn’t even try to serve the ball he just look at it go inside. I’m very disappointed guys
I don’t think our players and technical staff wants this league seriously, its only us supporters who want it more even though we will not get any money out of it but only the bragging rights.
From the first whistle we should go for the kill instead of slow build-ups at the back and more back passes and I’m afraid of Kekana in what he would give us in the next four years if he’s struggling rite now and our coach is playing him all the time,Rivaldo was solely missed yesterday. Since Sirino wear jersey number 10 he thinks he’s a superstar nowadays everytime he wants to dribble before passing the ball,we asked Wits to do us a favour by beating Chiefs and they did exactly that with our goalkeeper in the post but we failed to do our own job by beating Baroka instead we underestimated them.Now Chiefs have a hope because we brought that to them by losing I wonder thina are we gonna change our approach in the next two games or it will be same approach of piano and shoeshine with a lot of possessions without goals.
“From the first whistle we should go for the kill instead of slow build-ups at the back and more back passes”
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well said,however Madisha does not think so, with Pitso on his side. And the funny part is that you could see when we start pressing forward that we are able to penetrate the most formidable defence.The goal against Chiefs is a good example
Muzi agree with u about Serino look.like something wrong nowdays is taking decision if had ball is sure what to do really these player s doesn want to win lig on supporter wants leage
The style of the game is not working with the current players we have, if we can only use our strength now not try to adapt with other teams style we can we, the sooner we release that our players needs ball on their feet not head, one thing was frustrating to watch yesterday was to see most of the attacking crosses we high which were on Baroka’s reach as our players are to short to compete on air. That is what hurt me the most more that losing the game, boys can’t read the game and it’s disappointing, we used to have players who will see that the intended strategy isn’t working and change the game but now😭😭😭
spot on supporter. it’s a pity that our players will stick to the initial game strategy to the end even though it does not yield any results. But what makes us suprised because at some stage you will think the coach will rest the likes of Kekana and give others a chance but that was not to be.
I wonder what the coach tells the players during water break because they keep on doing same thing till the end.
The Downs I started supporting way back in 1986 will not find its difficult to unlock the defence like this of nowadays.If we fail to unlock the defence of Baroka how are we going to succeed to those teams in Northern Africa.
Another boring thing they always go sideways instead of cutting inside and that alone its difficult to score with high balls because most of our players are short.
your plan always backfire coach ,your team can’t defend cornerkicks and is not something new why don’t you just fix it ? try even rest kekana is tired and slow pls rest him .I hoping to see Goos next season is good goal keeper
Ta Mzi we can turn the opponent defence if you can remember how we bridged Arrows and Chiefs, remember the ball Sirino skipped for Mahlambi it took the Baroka defence in shambles but we mostly opted for “the sky” even though we saw they were “limiting” us I thing the “shoe shine” is our strength, I know we are told of modern football but truth we have evolved with the merge or both, if you can see how Hlompo and Onyango do when attack putting the ball behind the defence and goalkeeper which Makgalwa capitals on
The players and technical team don’t fee the pain the supporters are filing bcoz they get fat salary win or lose.We cannot win champion league again under this technical team bcoz of favoritism,players like Meza who fight very hard for the team get replaced every game whereas lazy and selfish players like Sirino play 90 minutes,the boy lost 99% of the ball given to him,he runs with ball,loses it and stand,when opponents touch him he stops,even against chiefs he lost may balls.The coach doesn’t treat players equally,Mahlambi played well against Arrows, the next game he was not given a chance,Sirino plays nonsense every game but he is always on the starting line up.Madisha and Kekana play most of their ball backwards and side ways and we also don’t add numbers in the box when attaching hence we are not creating chances and scoring more goals.Players and technical team your failing the Downs family,the way we are playing i don’t see us winning the Nedbank cup and we also gave the league to chiefs.It is high time you guys do some introspection.
Downs4ever one thing I would refuse to be part of is to name players, because these are the same players we won some trophies with one thing I’ve noticed is an approach to the game which is not suiting most of them, some of them are not 100% fit those are the true factor, my issue at times is with the Twitter admin who refuse to acknowledge what we are pointing out, he will either respond to those who praise or sing his/her tune I wish s/he can grow and interact on those raising issues, because of lack of engagement with the people they end up insulting players because s/he doesn’t engage at least people feel the team is talking to them, yes we are angry but doesn’t mean we don’t live the team, I think our admin should grow and stop want cheerleaders only, the admin is making things worse but not either questioning or give some lil clarity on the club’s progress, yes it’s not spokesperson but can communicate for the team
Guys to be honest i think we do not have a team that can win the CAF Champions league again! The philosophy of the technical team can be questioned again! When we attack Sundowns do not add numbers at all! We fail to put the defences of the opposition teams under pressure! Its very difficult for me to even understand the formation that we are playing now days! The only thing that i notice is to see a lone striker running alone with any support from other attacking players! Everyone drifts into the middle of the park and we are left with no one to play the centre forward position. The other factor that is costing us is the lack of speed going forward! We started with Meza and Mahlambi against Arrows and to tell the truth those guys were running at the defence of the opponent but it seems the technical team was not satisfied with the performance as they prefer Mahlambi to sit on the bench instead of complementing Meza! There were no clear cut chances that the team created against Baroka although Pitso decides to see otherwise! We only attacked with intention to score in the last 10 mins! With the kind of formation that Sundowns is playing there is no number 9 striker that can succeed in this team! We sign ed Ntuli and we did not play him according to his strength, later he is released but now he is scoring at Amazulu! What went wrong at Sundowns? The striker can only score goals if he is played according to his strengths! Even if Shalulile is signed if we supply him with the kind of balls that he wants, give him support in terms of the other players, he will fail. I question the philosophy of our technical stall in terms of taking the team forward! We struggle to come up with a 3 – 0 scoreline! Players are not given fair chances to play! other play even if they are out of form as if the coach does not see their bad performances at all!
Bafwe2″ I’m more than disappointed..I always say SUNDOWNS don’t know how to win when it matters the most… just like we were supposed to win at atridgeville in CAF GAME.. BUT INSTEAD DRAW AND SCORE AN OWN GOAL… YESTERDAY OUR PLAYERS DID NOT WANT TO WIN PERIOD….PISTO. IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR. LOSS… THIS IS WHAT HAPPEN..Baroka scored in 19:27… this means we considered in 20minutes…but our coaching staff decided to make positive changes in the last 20minutes…u can imagine…. don’t confuse the forced sub… since the we injuries…WHO DOES THAT..KUNALOKHO THEY PASSING THE BALL SIDE WAYS IF NOT BACKWARDS… WHAT A MISSED CHANCE… SINCE LAKAY WAS NOT GIVING US ANYTHING, TEBOGO SHOULD HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED..AND ALL STRING FORCE.. WHICH WAS KEPT ON THE BENCH..FOR WHAT…BUT PISTO WILL NOT CHANGE SINCE HE DOES NOT LISTENED TO ANYONE… LAST KNIGHT HE WAS BRAGGING THAT THEY ARE COACHES AND KNOW BETTER…BUT HE LOST AND CANNOT REPEAT HIS WORDS…I LOVE HIM AND HATE HIM… ITS THE TRUTH
Something is just wrong with my phone. I’m only seeing this article now, but some of you started commenting on the article yesterday. Anyway, I’m highly disappointed with the loss I couldn’t even sleep yesterday. It’s so painful to loose the league to Zebras ‘cause you’ll never hear the end of it
Guys how I missed my namesake player Muzi Percy Tau,s player who didn’t fear any defender whether its a parked bus or not he will ho straight on to them.
Its seems our development players are taught like that because Mkhuma,Makgalwa and Mkhulise are just doing that hope Kapinga will play because he likes to cut inside,others they just take the ball to near corner kick whereas the goalposts are not there.
Next season let’s adopt attack attack like Bondas used to say not possession football and too much backpasses,lastly I don’t like Downs but love them with all my heart angiziboni ngithanda enye iteam as long as I’m still alive and I know in soccer you win,draw and loose but not to loose or draw without fighting and udliwe inoma ubani Downs its an ambitious team that’s what our President told us when he came to Downs.he looked beyond Mzansi borders,ngakho-ke mayenziwe intando yakhe,Kby forever
What I saw yesterday was not Sundowns playing,the Sundowns I know would come from Morocco and go straight to Venda and win a game.We shouldn’t be the ones struggling under the current situation bcoz we’re used to playing after every three days.The current team is not respecting the supporters and the president.Mr Motsepe said he wants to conquer Africa and Downs players to dominate in the Bafana squad so can anyone tell me any Downs player who deserves Bafana call-up?
Yah nhe football will kill you real death. Things might look not ok but I still believe in hhis team we will be crowned league champions. KBY I remain
True member. I was broken by that Baroka loss
Fellow Dawanas someone raised an important opinion regarding time added on Sunday and I fully agreed with him on that we were robbed I know its no used to cry over spilled milk.
Maybe they talked about that yesterday on sports shows because I was heartbroken to listened over the radio stations or even watch extra time on tv,that goalkeeper fell on the ground maybe three times and also their player but the fourth official only gave us six minutes and those minutes are from cooling break since the start of the games.
I could see those small boys that were introduced late they wanted a goal and we were going to get it I expected maybe twelve added minutes but anyway akusenandaba kuzolunga,Kby forever
Sundowns players and technical team must change their attitude when approaching games, they should not underestimate opponents. I said it before the game that, if sundowns by beating Chiefs, top of the league, think that they will easily beat Baroka, bottom of the league, they will loose, it is what happens. The psychologists of the team, not sure if we have one, must work on the minds of our players in the issue. Chiefs made us a favour to go on top, but we miss the opportunity, now, it will be very difficult to win the league as Chiefs will put everything in place to win the two remaining games. Second, the biggest problem of Mwene is set pieces, he is very weak in that area, most of goals he conceded are from set pieces, the technical team should assist him on that, otherwise, we will even loose the two remaining games, and even miss caf champion league as most of the teams know his weak point.