Sparkless Sundowns fail to fire:
● The spark. Well, that’s what the irrepressible Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has diagnosed as missing in his team’s pursuit for the third successive Absa Premiership title after eking out two draws against Orlando Pirates (0-0) and Highlands Park (1-1) this week.
Not quite sounding — at least at this stage with seven league matches remaining — a death knell in their desire to knock Kaizer Chiefs off the top of the table, Mosimane, however, admitted after the Highlands game on Friday that he was “unhappy”.
Struggled to reproduce their form
The Brazilians have struggled to reproduce their form before the season was halted. Captain fantastic Hlompho Kekana has been listless in the three games, and defender Motjeka Madisha recovered from his howlers in the Nedbank Cup semifinal against Bidvest Wits.
“We tried to put the players on the pitch we know can give us fluidity of the game and to get the spark back: Villa [Sibusiso Vilakazi], Themba [Zwane], Gaston [Sirino] and Pitso [Sphelele Mkhulise],” said Mosimane. “We got it in patches, but not as much as we wanted.”
Indeed, it’s been the poor passing, especially in critical areas where any opposition is likely to be hurt that Mosimane’s charges have looked rather blunt and timid.
For all their fancy passing, Sundowns clearly lack a sharpshooter in Peter Shalulile’s mould — one who gets half a decent chance and turns it into gold — like he did when he opened the score for Highlands inside six minutes.
Sundowns are still waiting for the return of their out-and-out striker Mauricio Affonso, who is reportedly still stuck in Uruguay after going there to heal an injury during the four months of the lockdown. The sooner Affonso returns the better the prospect of Sundowns deposing Chiefs at the summit, for in Vilakazi, Sirino and Keletso Makgalwa, Mosimane has players who are more adept at supporting the main man up front.
Encouraging for Mosimane, though, will be the form of Mkhulisi, the only player who looked lively and likely to earn Sundowns full points on Friday. Pitso, as Mosimane prefers to call him by the name they share, is one player who not only gifted Sundowns their precious equaliser before halftime on Friday, but also ignited the “spark in patches” that his coach alluded to.
Alongside other midgets Makgalwa and Promise Mkhuma, who was given a debut when he came on for Zwane in the 60th minute on Friday, Mkhulisi will be the fulcrum of the new team that Mosimane is building.
“We had the last chance with Promise on the left and normally he scores that goal,” Mosimane said of an opening missed by the 20-year-old left-footed attacker that the club recently promoted from its junior ranks.
Deserved man-of-the-match award
As for Mkhulisi’s contribution, which also earned him a deserved man-of-the-match award, there was no doubt about Mosimane’s elation in the 24-year-old capping his performance with a goal the Sundowns coach hopes will keep them in the race.
“I have been giving him [Mkhulisi] a lot of hard time to score. As much as he’s playing well, when is he going to score? I said Mkhulisi is scoring tonight, but you just say that for the motivational purpose not because you knew he’s going to score,” said Mosimane.
The Sundowns coach will be hoping for more of those goals and reigniting the missing spark by Mkhulisi and company when they play Cape Town City tomorrow night. Anything less than full points may well sound the alarm bells.