Sundowns lesson for Bafana

SUNDOWNS are the club football kings of the African continent after an epic struggle against Egyptian giants Zamalek and, for the next few days at least, South African followers of the game will be savouring the Pretoria club’s magnificent achievement.

In our football-mad country, in which our teams have flattered so many times only to deceive, in matches and competitions in Africa, we would like to send our congratulations to club owner Patrice Motsepe, coach Pitso Mosimane and every member of the Sundowns squad for their 3-1 aggregate CAF Champions League final victory over the Egyptian side on Sunday.

It was a victory set up in Pretoria, where they won with a display of flair and precision finishing, but more importantly, it was a victory cemented in Alexandria, where they defended with determination, but without losing sight of a football truism that the best way to protect a lead is to score goals.

Still, even with a three-goal advantage, Sundowns were only too aware how carefully they needed to tread against Zamalek.

In the countdown to the match all the talk in Egypt was about the home team’s ability to “sucker punch” their opponents in the red-hot cauldron that is the 86 000-capacity, all-seater Borg El-Arab Stadium on big-match days.

There were other distractions too for the South Africans, such as death threats posted on the social media accounts of their key players.

But Mosimane’s charges were prepared, focused and eager to follow in the footsteps of Orlando Pirates on a famous night in Abidjan, Coite d’Ivoire, in 1995, when Jerry “Legs of Thunder” Sikhosana struck a lone goal to steer Orlando Pirates to a glorious 3-2 aggregate victory over ASEC Abidjan.

On Sunday, Sundowns were not prepared to be denied. Even though they eventually lost 1-0, they never looked likely to surrender their comfortable first-leg lead.

Sundowns won the crown because they were well trained, because Mosimane instilled a winning mentality in the team, and because they are a talented, young team of skilful athletes.

There are lessons in this for our stuttering national team. It’s time for Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba to get his side to believe they are good enough as well – so they can actually emulate Sundowns.