ATTERIDGEVILLE – For the travelling Mariveni United fans, this won’t be considered a bad day at the office at all despite a 2-0 Nedbank Cup defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on Monday night.
To have been able to rub shoulders with the current African champions and – quite incredibly – go into the halftime break goalless was some feat.
The Limpopo outfit were clear underdogs coming here given the contrasting fortunes of a fourth-tier club compared to their Premier League counterparts, who are owned by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe.
In truth, Sundowns allowed their visitors to enjoy their moment in the lights of elite football on this Monday night of the Nedbank Cup last-32.
While coach Pitso Mosimane would have been livid to head into the break unable to breach the Mariveni defence, especially after winger Anthony Laffor missed an open net near the half-hour mark, his counterpart Peter Modike was probably asking for more of the same – parking the bus and hoping to catch the Brazilians on a “transition”.
The lowly SAB League side were surely hoping for a miracle, something we are all used to in this cup. Lower divisions have in the past gone as far as the final itself, with some giant-killing sprees along the road.
But Sundowns stopped joking around when they returned from the break, having possibly received a tongue-lashing from Mosimane.
Dreams were shattered, but that was expected. The problem in the first half might be the fact that the Sundowns players thought they’d won the match before it even kicked off.
Sundowns striker Leonardo Castro is congratulated by teammates after opening the scoring. Photo: Samuel Shivambu, BackpagePix
Mosimane reminded them that that wasn’t the case, making a halftime substitution by bringing on Thapelo Morena for Siyanda Zwane at right back.
Five minutes later, striker Leonardo Castro broke the deadlock with a headed goal that was not only crucial for Sundowns to take the lead, but also significant for his own personal race in getting back to his best.
This was the Colombian’s first goal of the season in all competitions, and Mosimane has been desperate to his hitman return to form following a lengthy injury that kept him on the sidelines for more than three months when he got hurt in the first game of the campaign back in August.
He’s also been out of sorts without his partners-in-crime in Keagan Dolly, who moved to France in January, and Khama Billiat, who is now also injured.
Castro also played a role in the second goal scored by Laffor – the Liberian making amends for the earlier miss by finishing off Castro’s headed ball that came off the woodwork with the goalkeeper clearly beaten.
Sundowns had made things considerably difficult for themselves by not punishing Mariveni, although it has to be said that Mosimane had made as many as eight changes from the side that suffered a narrow defeat away to Cape Town City, a result that took the Mother City club to the top of the Absa Premiership table, while Sundowns still play catch-up in their title defence.
The coach made the changes in light of Friday’s Caf Champions League first-round encounter against KCC from Uganda, another crucial fixture as they attempt to hold on to their crown following their October triumph over Egyptian giants Zamalek.