Sundowns show Chiefs why they remain the team to beat

Mamelodi Sundowns (1) 2 Kekana 8, Shalulile 63 Kaizer Chiefs 0

CHAMPIONS Mamelodi Sundowns showed they will remain the team to beat in this season's Premiership with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus yesterday.

Sundowns may have endured a week where the harmony in their camp, and particularly the relationship of their three coaches was placed under scrutiny, but they remain a potent outfit when the serious business on the field gets underway.

Chiefs may have opened up their cheque book and splurged on a whole new group of players, including former Sundowns talisman Keagan Dolly in a bid to unseat the four-time reigning champions, but it will take more than just money to get the better of the Brazilians.

The much-anticipated contest began in almost identical fashion to when these two giants of South African football met previously in the MTN8 quarter-finals last month.

Lyle Lakay's cultured left-foot was once again the provider, with the midfielder delivering another inch-perfect free-kick to the far post. Only this time it was not Peter Shalulile who out-jumped the Chiefs defence, but rather new man Grant Kekana.

Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter would no doubt have been furious in regards to how easily Kekana found space and then won the aerial battle to head the ball past goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma, especially as the visitors had just a moments earlier missed a chance of their own when Dolly rifled his volley just over the bar with his weaker right foot.

Dolly was certainly intent to leave his imprint on the match, with the Chiefs No 10 at the heart of every Amakhosi attack. He created another opportunity when picking up a pass from Cole Alexander, and drove at the Sundowns penalty box before unleashing a powerful left-footed drive that shaved the outside of a full-stretched Denis Onyango's left post.

And when it was not him launching shots of his own at the Sundowns goal, Dolly was setting up his teammates through some precise passing that found the big frame of Samir Nurkovic unmarked on two occasions in the Sundowns penalty area.

However, the Serbian endured a frustrating afternoon in Tshwane as he could not capitalise on any of the opportunities. Nurkovic's headers were either going straight at Onyango, over the bar or he could not make contact at all like when Khama Billiat also played him in with a deft back heel.

However, it was Onyango's brilliant finger-tip save from a Billiat header in the second half that dented Chiefs' morale. And against a team with the quality and experience that Sundowns possess, it is almost suicidal to leave such gilt-edged chances on the table for they will come back and deliver the killer blow. That's exactly what transpired with ace marksman Shalulile delivering the knockout shortly after the hour mark. The Namibian had a half-chance in the opening 45 minutes when his header from an Andile Jali cross was pushed wide, but he made no mistake with a tap-in from close range on the hour mark.

Chiefs' misery on the day was compounded when substitute Lebogang Manyama struck a tame penalty in the 85th minute that left the visitors with plenty of questions to ponder, and lots to work on for the remainder of the season if they are to pose a serious title challenge.

“I think it was a good game for us coming back from the international break. You never know how it's going to go,” Sundowns' man-of-the-match Rushine de Reuck said.

“We knew they wanted to play on the counter. It was always going to be very tough, but we did our analysis. We knew which spaces.

“We prepared well and our defence didn't give them a chance.”