Sundowns ‘started to relax’, thinking that it was going to be easy against Rayon Sports

PITSO MOSIMANE blames complacency for Mamelodi Sundowns returning from Rwanda with a goalless draw against Rayon Sports in the first leg of their Caf Champions League’s first round tie.

Sundowns had aimed to return with a positive result and then wrap the tie up in the second leg in Atteridgeville next Sunday.

Now they have to get a win at home as a draw with goals would see them crash out of the continent’s premier club competition.

This is almost similar to how Sundowns booked their place in the group stage of last year’s tournament. The Brazilians looked like they would wipe the floor with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) by going 2-0 up in the first six minutes of the first leg. They then took their foot off the pedal, allowing the Ugandans to score a crucial away goal which forced them to graft in the return leg.

“Rayon Sports played really well,” Mosimane said. “We were the better team in the first half, but in the second half they came out stronger. To be honest, we could have lost the game because there was a ball that hit the post and went out. It was a good and open game. It was the way I expected Rayon Sports to play. In the first half we frustrated them a little bit. We didn’t give them time on the ball and we won a lot of balls in the midfield.

“I wasn’t happy with my team in the first half. We didn’t find it very difficult and we started to relax thinking that it’s going to be easy. But it never turned out like that because the opponents raised the bar.

“I think that my two centre-backs (Ricardo Nascimento and Wayne Arendse) and goalkeeper (Denis Onyango) played really well to defend against a fast attack. I am happy that we didn’t concede a goal.”

The Brazilians’ immediate challenge upon their return from Rwanda isn’t the Champions League. The Tshwane giants host amateur team EC Bees on Tuesday in the Nedbank Cup last 16 with the aim of not slipping on this potential banana peel with their focus on making it to the group stage of the Champions League for the third time in a row.

Sundowns’ trip to Rwanda showed though that they aren’t easily side-tracked. After two training sessions on an artificial pitch due to the lack of good grass pitches in Kigali, Sundowns’ only training session on grass at the match venue was cut short by a power failure.

At first glance that looked like mind games from the hosts, but an apology from the Rwandan Ministry of Sports and Culture to Sundowns makes it look like a genuine power failure.

“We don’t like to make excuses,” Mosimane said to Rwandan journalists. “We didn’t train (at the match venue). It wasn’t nice. It’s not good for your country. It’s not good for football. You need to give the opponents an opportunity to train on the match venue because when you come to my country, imagine I do the same and switch off the lights?”