PAYING THE PRICE
WHEN YOU DON’T TAKE YOUR CHANCES AND YOU NEED A WIN THAT IS THE WAY IT GOES – PITSO MOSIMANE
IN THE AFTERMATH of Mamelodi Sundowns being knocked out of the CAF Champions League on Tuesday night, coach Pitso Mosimane came down hard on continental football, slamming the opposition for time-wasting tactics while officials turned a blind eye, and claiming that the tournament organisers were 10 years behind Europe.
Whether this was simply sour grapes or cold hard facts is open to anybody’s interpretation.
The Brazilians were eliminated from Africa’s premier club competition after Horoya AC of Guinea held them to a goalless draw and progressed to join Wydad Casablanca in the last eight.
Downs needed all three points to progress to the quarter-finals.
“I am proud that my players had soul, fair play and were clean. We could have easily instructed them to roll around on the floor to wind down the clock when we were leading 2-1 against Horoya in Conakry, but we kept playing and they equalised from a corner late in the game,” Mosimane said in his postmatch reaction at Lucas Moripe Stadium.
Horoya, on their visit to South Africa this week, initially showed no sign of playing for a draw in the opening minutes of their group stage clash with Sundowns, although a single point would have taken them through to the quarter-finals.
But deep into the second half the Guinea outfit dropped back in numbers, occasionally appearing to feign injuries to slow down the clock, and frustrating Sundowns who at this stage of the game were desperate for that all-important goal.
Mosimane felt Tunisian referee Sadok Selmi should have added more than the four minutes of extra time.
Streetwise
“You will never see a referee add seven minutes like we have seen here in the PSL when there has been an injury or time-wasting,” the Sundowns coach said.
“And this is why we are behind in Africa from our Europe counterparts. Everywhere we played people were falling all over the place and wasting time. If you are not streetwise and clever in how you manoeuvre in Africa you will never do well in this competition.
“People look at the PSL and want to compare it to the Champions League. You can’t, because it’s a different ball game there …”
Mosimane also insisted that, despite being crowned 2016 winners, they were still very much wet behind the ears when it comes to continental football.
“People need to be patient with us. Remember that we have not been in this space for long. We are babies in this thing,” he said of their elimination, which is the second in a row after Wydad beat them in the quarter-finals last year.
“Look at the top five sides in Africa, clubs like Al Ahly and Zamalek. How many times have they won this competition? … In this competition you can win without playing well. We will get there,” he said.
Tuesday night’s result also meant that Sundowns, the reigning South African champions, have now gone four games without a win – and a goal – in all competitions.
Mosimane said this was the price they were paying for creating plenty of chances, but not converting them.
“We threw everything at them, took all the risks, but that is football – when you don’t take your chances and you need a win that is the way it goes. There was not much in the game but we controlled and did everything. We have to take the positives, but our problem is that we couldn’t score,” he explained. @superjourno