WE LOST TITLE IN FIRST ROUND: PITSO

Chiefs’ streak praised

PITSO Mosimane admitted yesterday that Mamelodi Sundowns held on as long as they could in the Premier League race but never really stood a chance against newly crowned champions Kaizer Chiefs, who were unbeaten at the halfway mark of the season.

“I think the only other team to do that was Bayern Munich,” the coach said. “Chiefs had a good run in the first round and if I am being honest, I think that is where the title race was lost for us. It was very difficult for us at that time to compete with a team that just never dropped points. “We kept trying to win, beating teams with big margins and they just collecting points by winning 1-0 here and there. That is probably how we won the league the previous year as well. ”

Mosimane said as much as it hurt to surrender their bragging rights to Chiefs, the outcome of the current league campaign – which only ends next month – meant that South African football did not have a single team dominating.

“We won it last year and it was their turn this year. It shows true competition between the two teams,” he said.

“I must praise Stuart [Baxter] for keeping me on my toes. There has been good competition between myself and Stuart. No bad blood, no [negative] media utterances. He is a gentleman and I treat him like one. And we will form a guard of honour for the champions in our next league match, that one is nonnegotiable.”

Mosimane vowed to immediately put the disappointment of losing the title aside and focus on bagging the Nedbank Cup, the only piece of silverware on offer for the Brazilians.

Sundowns host National First Division outfit Vasco da Gama in the semifinals of the cup at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

“I am going to disregard the statistics that we have only managed one win in five matches because that involves different competitions.

“I saw that Sundowns is back again after the draw against Platinum Stars. We are not going to take Vasco for granted. They are an awkward [lot].”