By: Cheyenne Bent
Victory found the Mamelodi Sundowns, as they soared into the MTN8 Finals on Tuesday 28th September. Sundowns were able to secure their superb win against the Golden Arrows over a two-legged semi-final at the Lucas Morpie Stadium in Pretoria; ending their dramatic fourteen year title drought of hard luck and defeat. Their stellar performance saw them dominate game play in which earned them a magnificent victory of 3-0, which ultimately gave the Sundowns a favourable aggregate score line of a whooping 4-1. Sundown supporters, MTN8 viewers, soccer fanatics and soccer enthusiasts as assured audience, I can safely say that this electrifying match caught the attention of other spectators and viewers and stirred a sensation of invigoration around local South African Soccer. The coaching trio of Manqoba Mngqithi, Rulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela guided their teams lethal performance through making five strategic tactical changes by substituting a number of their injured players with a quartet of skilled and quality players, that powered their win with outstanding play. The Sundowns; also known as the Brazillian’s conquered their semi-final bravely without featuring some of their regular, key players, namely; Denis Onyango, Thapelo Morena, Mosa Lebusa, Rivaldo Coetzee and Themba Zwane, who added to the lengthy list of squad players already unable to play due to injury.
Picture: Sundowns
Perturbated over fitness of six players ahead of Arrows Game Concern sank deep amongst the coaching trio, the squad and fans as they perturbed over the fitness of their players as well as their divergent line-up that was unalike to their norm. however, despite the fret, the Sundowns were able to manifest their sheer dominance, skill and pure persistence and scored their first goal within the rapid forth minute of the game, scored by Namibian striker Peter Shalulile. It’s a GOAL!! Shalulile’s goal immediately inspired the drive and determination of the Sundowns squad, setting a euphoric atmosphere that perpetuated their momentum to their well deserved win. The Sundowns played a superlative game with strategic play, solid defense and formidable ball possession throughout the match, which led them to scoring a spectacular second goal within half an hour of the match, scored by Zimbabwean defender Divine Lunga with a hero header that rocketed into the top right corner of the goal posts, ensuring a promising performance for the duration of the game ahead of the Brazillian’s. This header could possibly be one for the history books, as this match was Lunga’s debut against his former team, The Golden Arrows who had recruited the soccer star in 2018. Although the coaches and fellow teammates gave a standing ovation, the defender chose to not celebrate his debut goal as a sign of respect to his former team. Unfortunately for Lunga was unable to reach full time of the match, due to an injury within sixty eight minutes of the match and was then replaced by Mosa Lebusa. This injury caused an uproar amongst the football fraternity and had made revelations that the soccer star was not injured, however, this is all centered around speculation and is yet to be confirmed. Other players that were substitutes for those who were unable to play were as follows; Denis Onyango was replaced by Reyaad Pieterse, Haashim Domingo and Pavol Safranko by Rivaldo Coetzee and Kermit Erasmus A particular duo of players added significant meaning to the unalike line-up as Reyaad Pieterse and Pavol Safranko made their first starts to the season adding to the importance and excitement of this particular match.
MAN CITY vs CHELSEA
Saturday 25th September, saw the end to Manchester City’s losing drought against their rivals Chelsea, as they had previously failed to beat Chelsea for three consecutive matches, within the space of a month. The teams clashed at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City won 1-0 from Gabriel Jesus’ deflected strike in the fifty third minute of the game that changed the entire dynamic of the match. Their winning drought earned them the (LMA)League Manager Association Performance of the Week Award with Pep Guardiola receiving a bottle of champagne and the LMA Performance of the Week Trophy and celebrating their 221st win as the club manager which is the most wins for a club manager in the clubs history. Manchester City who much deserved the win also moved up to second place in the Premier League Table. At Stamford Bridge, Manchester City interchanged specific player positions which left Chelsea bewildered which then saw Man City have most of the ball possession despite the strong defense Chelsea put out. With this being the first loss of the season for Chelsea and the team as well as the team coach were heavily resistant to their loss and coach Thomas Tuchel made a brutal admission and said “of course we are not happy with how we played and the decisions we took. You need to be at the very best level in all parts of the game and we were clearly not” said the coach.
However, despite the disheartened defeat Tuchel was not completely disgruntled and still found kind words for the Man City team and their coach, praising Pep Guardiola’s tactics and marvelous team selection. He continued to say “In the end, we have to accept that City were better than us today. They were in netter shape, sharper.”
References:
Baleka, M. (2021, September 30). Sundows Thrash Golden Arrows. Retrieved from www.iol.co.za
Gumede, N. (2021, September 29). How Sundowns New Attitude Helped Them Reach MTN 8 Final. Retrieved from www.citizen.co.za
Makhaya, E. (2021, September 30). Semi Final MTN 8 Report. Retrieved from www.thesouthafrican.co.za
Mphahlele, M. (2021, September 29). Arrows Coach Seema Takes Positives from Defeat. Retrieved from www.sowetanlive.co.za
Mphahlele, M. (2021, September 29). Downs Concerned about Six Players. Retrieved from www.soccerladuma.co.za
Mphahlele, M. (2021, September 26). Sundowns See Vicotry Over Arrows. Retrieved from www.timeslive.co.za
Rendell, S. (2021, September 25). Mason MOunt to Miss Man City. Retrieved from www.independent.co.uk
Reporter, S. (2021, September 28). Sundowns Cruise to Final. Retrieved from www.kickoff.com
United, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.mancity.com
Vardien, T. (2021, September 28). Sundowns Secure MTN 8 Final. Retrieved from www.news24.com
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