From the long-awaited debut of defender Rivaldo Coetzee to striker Jeremy Brockie finding his scoring boots, TFG SoccerClub takes a look at the five things learned from Mamelodi Sundowns’ victory in their Caf Champions League opening tie.
1) Rivaldo Coetzee debut:
The 21-year-old stalwart made his first appearance for Mamelodi Sundowns since arriving from Ajax Cape Town, following a failed move to Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic in August 2017.
Not only did the Bafana Bafana international justify his inclusion into the squad with a solid performance, the fact that he lasted for the entire ninety minutes could put ice on rumours suggesting that his career was over due to that injury.
2) Jali and Kekana combination:
Pitso Mosimane opted for the midfield duo of Andile Jali and Hlompho Kekana. The experienced pair have been put together in the engine room alongside each other a couple of times this season and have not lost one of the six clashes played across all competitions.
Could this be the start of a midfield to count on for Mosimane’s men? It remains to be seen. However, with Jali and Kekana in the middle, a good balance of attack and defence results when they play, especially when Masandawana opt for four attackers up top in Gaston Sirino, Lebogang Maboe, Themba Zwane and Jeremy Brockie.
Both players aren’t limited to only attacking or defending, which is beneficial when Sundowns are either one goal up or one goal down.
3) Coming into their own:
A number of newly-acquired players are gradually starting to find their rhythm at Chloorkop, which will be beneficial if they are to fire on all cylinders in the Absa Premiership, Caf Champions League, as well as the Nedbank Cup.
Mosa Lebusa put a shaky start to life at Sundowns behind him and was one of the top performers in Sundowns’ Caf opener. The former Ajax Cape Town man even grabbed an assist for Brockie’s opener, which will go a long way in helping him with his confidence at the club.
Brockie, Jali and Maboe complete the list of new players who had excellent showings against Leones Vegetarianos – something which will excite Mosimane as the season progresses.
4) Wastefulness:
It wasn’t all positive signals for the Chloorkop-based outfit though. After emerging out of the starting blocks like a team possessed, Sundowns dominated in all aspects, barring the scoreline.
While, they did run out 2-0 victors, they should have inflicted a heavier scoreline on their opponents, with Brockie, Gaston Sirino and Themba Zwane all missing sitters.
Mosimane will be all too aware of the price of wastefulness, especially after the group stages when the competition in the tournament heats up. Sundowns should utilise the group stage matches not only to progress to the next stage, but to get the confidence of their goal-scorers up, and how does one do that? By scoring goals, lots of them!
5) Clean sheet:
Considering that they fielded a largely new-look defence, consisting of Coetzee, Lebusa, Wayne Arendse and Anele Ngcongca, Sundowns can be pleased with their defensive efforts – most notably with Coetzee making his long-awaited debut.
Denis Onyango’s goalframe was hardly threatened, and Mosimane will be keen to replicate the result when the two sides meet in the return leg on 4 December.
Photo: Backpagepix
