Pitso lauds players after cup win

MAMELODI Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has hailed his charges after they delivered a polished performance in an entertaining Nedbank Cup quarterfinal tie against Cape Town City.

Mosimane was also full of plaudits for the vanquished opponents and showered City coach Benni McCarthy with praise.

“I think it was an exciting game for people who came and paid their money,” he said.

“We played a very good team‚” Mosimane said after the 2-1 victory at the Cape Town Stadium kept Sundowns on course for the league and cup double as they booked a semifinal date with Maritzburg United in three weeks. “Benni is a brave coach,” he said.

“He appreciates good football‚ they build up from the back, but we managed to steal possession when they were building from the back.

“City are a very exciting team‚ very good‚ beautiful. I’m not surprised they beat Pirates and Wits [in the earlier rounds of the cup]‚ they are a good team.

“[Surprise] Ralani stole the show‚ he deserved it [the man-of-the-match award].”

However, Mosimane said Sundowns should have been two goals up after striking the woodwork twice before the interval.

“Let’s be honest, we should have scored goals in the first half‚” he said.

“They had more of the ball‚ they looked more exciting‚ enterprising‚ looking good; we were a little bit more efficient.

“We knew if we could find the first goal we could go on and win it because they do not score a lot of goals.”

It was Tiyani Mabunda who stole the ball in the midfield and fed Khama Billiat, who set up Percy Tau to make it 1-0.

Hlompho Kekana then doubled the score with a characteristic scorcher, but Ralani pulled a goal back.

“I was a bit upset with the goal we conceded because I spoke to my players at half-time and told them that when Thapelo [Morena] is one-on-one against Ralani‚ the second central midfielder must come and cover in there.

“But Ralani found the space to go through.”