The final piece of the puzzle was completed last night at Orlando Stadium as Mamelodi Sundowns beat Bloemfontein Celtic by a goal to nil to clinch the Nedbank Cup and make it a treble. Masandawana won their second trophy in the space of seven days. They have won the Telkom Knockout, Absa Premiership title and the Nedbank Cup in the 2019/20 season.
For the clash against Celtics, a few changes were made which saw Dennis Onyango replacing Kennedy Mweene as well as welcoming back Thapelo Morena into the twenty man squad after he was injured in the opening game of the Nedbank Cup against SuperSport United.
In the first minute the intentions were clear that an early goal would be vital. Themba Zwane had an opportunity in the first minute after some great footwork and a shibobo but his shot sailed high and could not find the target. Siwelele also took the game to Masandawana and captain Ndumiso Mabena took a shot in the eleventh minute but Onyango had it covered. Going into the first cooling break the combination of Zwane and Maboe was proving to be a menace for the Celtic’s defence but they were just not finding that elusive goal, the man between the sticks for the Bloemfontein side, Chaine, was kept busy. The first half ended in a stalemate.
In the first fifteen minutes of the second half, Gaston Sirino had two glorious chances as one just missed by inches and his second hit the upbright with Chaine well beaten. It took seventy-nine minutes for Sirino to finally beat Chaine and give the Brazilians the deserved lead in the final, as he took a shot from range to give Masandawana hope of achieving the treble.
The eighty-ninth minute saw Siwelele come close with a set-piece but Onyango was aware and managed to save the situation. With minutes running out on the board Coach Pitso Mosimane brought on Morena for Lakay.
The treble has been achieved Masandawana, Halala!!!
How we lined up:
Onyango, Ngcongca, Madisha, Nascimento, Lakay (‘94 Morena), Coetzee, Kekana, Mkhulise (‘86 Makgalwa), Sirino, Maboe, Zwane (‘86Mkhuma)
Subs:
Mweene, Makgalwa, Mkhuma, Morema, Mabunda, Jali, Meza, Langerman, Arendse
Well done yellow nation!! I would like to thank the entire team starting from our President Mr Motsepe, technical team, players and my fellow supporters. You have made us proud. When i’m wearing my sundowns jersey i get all the praise and even from our rivals chiefs. Keep up the good work. I would also like to give a friendly advise to our young stars that they must invest their monies wisely and they must think about life after football, they must learn from our former player Lerato Chabangu. It really heart breaking to see someone u admired becomes bankrupt.
KBY.
CONGRATULATIONS,be hungry for more success,set the records that no team can be able to break in our life time.My quote of the year by coach PITSO “THIS THING STILL HAS A HEART BEAT”.
Congratulations. It Finally worked out as desired and planned. Be grateful. Well done! I think us supporters achieved our Pride,our boasting finally speaks for itself. We are not just buying these jerseys , we are nit just wearing them, its a statement. We do not want to talk too much,that Nedbank Cup was the last nail. That Break gave us equal opportunity to rest . There was no travelling this time, no long flight
When players are self-motivated it is easy to achieve a desired goal,the thing is they must see it and embrace it before you journey. Once the whole team from the Technical team to the players,begin to see things the same way the motivation become automatic,it triggers the fighting spirit and results begin to come out. I beg to differ with the critics that next year we wont achieve anything under the same team, l deliberately dispute that because the motivation is not a sugar coated one, its within, actually l reminded some how we lost the Caf, l told some that the motivation will be even higher, because the goals are clearly defined.Winning has become part of the team.As for Sundowns Supporters its even worse, we actually accept a defeat but we dont understand it,its very difficult for Sundowns to accept a defeat and something l like even our players know it, they know a new song must be sung,They respect our feelings. Thumbs up masandawana. KBY
Well done boyz for working so hard to achieve tripple, we are pruod of you! Thanks Yellow Nation for the support! KBY forever!!!
Thanks guys we love you
Guys I am so happy as a support er of the team, but disappointed with administrators and technical staff. How can you miss such a thing as a player is on suspension in big institution as sundowns? Yhoo the administrators should be disciplined for this. Or perhaps is the relationship between administrators and technical staff! Please fix this it is low