Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes Kaizer Chiefs shouldn’t have been the team to end their unbeaten record in the DStv Premiership this past Sunday.
The Brazilians’ 21-game unbeaten run in the league ended when Amakhosi came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Gaston Sirino opened the scoring for Sundowns, but they were undone by an own goal from Mosa Lebusa and the winning goal by Dumisani Zuma.
Mngqithi believes the Soweto giants did not put up much of a fight to deserve the victory and all three points.
‘I think it’s a game that we could have easily wrapped earlier,’ Mngqithi told SuperSport TV. ‘We messed around. We resorted to ball possession when we could have penetrated and created some good moments. They gave us opportunities. Even second half, we had a very good opportunity to get the second.
‘But when you don’t take that on a counter-attack, we lose possession instead of blocking the opponent or making sure he doesn’t go past you, so that they don’t gain momentum when they break. But when you let him loose on the half-way line already from there an opportunity is created.
‘You can say their [first] goal was a deflection but there’s no luck in football. Only when hard work meets opportunity and because they worked very hard to get themselves in those moments.
‘We slipped on a counter. We were caught with our right channel being open when we knew very well our legs were going. We felt we need to attack with one full back at a time.
‘And when both full backs attacked simultaneously and then an opening is created without a six. The six shifted one side. It became very naive defending. It looked like nobody could see Zuma at that time.
‘I honestly don’t think this is the team that should have taken away our unbeaten record [of 21 games in the league]. I don’t think they fought hard enough to make the game difficult for us. But I believe we lost to ourselves.
‘It was not a game we should have lost or even drawn. We had a lot of opportunities to add a goal or two. When we move a lot and our passes are precise, we always do something. To say we have lost this match, it’s a very sour feeling.’
