Mamelodi Sundowns have been crowned the Premier Soccer League champions for an incredible fifth time in five seasons after a 3-2 win against Royal AM on Monday evening.
The reigning champions survived an almighty scare after the majority of the players were booked out due to an outbreak of flu at the camp. The Brazilians mounted an amazing encounter at the Chatsworth stadium with goals from Gaston Sirino, Thabiso Kutumela and Peter Shalulile secured a win for the Tshwane giants.
“We were a little bit stripped apart with more than 20 players with the outbreak of flu, but the players that were there gave a really good account of themselves and they pushed very hard to make sure that at the end we win the match. We are very thankful for their efforts, and the work they put forward was really encouraging. We are proud of the players that we have and the fight because we told them that adversity is breakfast for Champions, and the fact that we are having all these breakouts and issues it must not deter us from fighting for a result and our players never failed us in that space. “ Downs Co-Coach Manqoba Mngqithi hailed the performance of his troops.
The clash between Thwihli Thwahla and Masandawana was postponed on Saturday afternoon before the first half break concluded due to bad weather conditions in KwaZulu-Natal. Supporters of Sundowns traveled to the coast from all corners of the country to witness the historical crowning of the champions, however they were left with a heavy heart after the game was canceled and rescheduled to play on Monday. The Brazilians’ coach extended gratitude to their supporters for their overwhelming spirit:
“I just want to thank our people – the yellow nation. They were behind us even during the times when they could not come to the stadiums because of COVID-19, but they made sure that they supported the team even outside the pitch. Beating that drum you could feel it and for me that was real support and there were moments where we did not win matches but they were there with us. We lost against Stellenbosch in a game where I think we played very well but they supported us right through. They were there when we lost to Maritzburg United, and they were also there when we lost to AmaZulu and we really want to thank our supporters.”
“We want to thank the President of the club, the Chairman, the board, the management, my fellow coaches and the technical team and the support staff. More than anybody else, the players for such an enduring year where it was very hard, we played so many matches but they kept going and that for us was really important. We want to thank our players from the bottom of our hearts.”
Bafana Ba Style are hunting for another domestic treble as they head into preparation for the Nedbank Cup final against Marumo Gallants on Saturday at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
I wish I can play that Sundowns song with lyrics going like iSundawana SEKUKA NINGI ISENZELO KUHLE Thank you Chairman ,coaches players and everyone involved 👍👍👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
What sets us way apart from other teams is the mentality of our players,when the team signs a player they don’t seem as a threat to their positions,unlike at other teams they see him as someone who is coming to help the team to win more trophies,that is the key to our success.I would also like to acknowledge the good work done by our goalkeeper trainer,against Chiefs in the MTN 8 Mweene saved penalties and also Onyango save penalties in the final of the same competition. Peterse also saved penalty against Chiefs in the league game ,then Mweene against Royal AM.Our technical team has done a great job this season, a league plus MTN8 so far,that is an improvement from last season already.When we criticize you we want to push you to do more good,continue working very hard don’t get enough of winning things,we want you to achieve things no other team will be able to achieve for the the days of our lives.I was very much impressed to see the introduction of Mashiane,his 1st touch showed me he is a quality of a young man,he remained me of Bongani Zungu ,please nature that young talent,don’t loan him.If Foden at Man City can have 4 league medals at age 21 and Mppape can win world cup at 19 what’s stopping us to produce good young players,why can’t we emulate those European teams?For example top goal scorers in the EPL scored 23 goals and also our our own Shaulile scored 23 goals,we can even do better than them,even the big guns like Real Madrid,Barcelona,Liverpool and Man City have never won the league 5 times in a row. We must strive to build a young strong team and mix it with few experience players.Let’s wrap up the season in style on Saturday.