Johannesburg - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane claims he did not say a word to his players in the changeroom after they found themselves 1-0 down against Medeama SC in Pretoria on Saturday night.
The CAF Confederation Cup game ended in a 3-1 win for the Brazilians, who had been 1-0 down at half time after the Ghana side scored in the opening minute of the game.
But the newly crowned Absa Premiership champions showed their class in the final 10 minutes as goals from Leonardo Castro, Khama Billiat and Cuthbert Malajila powered the Tshwane side to victory.
Rather than lay into his players for what he felt was a poor display, Mosimane says he decided to remain silent during the halftime break, a strategy which ended up paying off.
“You won't believe it, at halftime I never said one word, nothing, I never coached anybody,” he said after the match. “I sat there, I had coffee there in the corner and then they responded.
“Very naughty, very silly, very irresponsible first half. Unbelievable. Ever since I'm here at Mamelodi Sundowns I've never seen Sundowns play a 45 minutes like that, unbelievable.
“But when you take the positives out of the negatives, they responded well and they scored three goals. “I'm not happy but it's okay, I'm happy we scored three goals but I don't like my team to play bad football, very bad football in the first half.
“If Sundowns plays properly with discipline and organisation with a will to win; you see they are still in a celebratory mood of winning the league, they are human beings.
“I understand, they just won the league and then they don't respond well, but I think we can score away,” he added. The second leg game takes place in a week's time (May 17) in Ghana. Should Downs progress, they will be into the group phase of the competition.
African News Agency