Tashreeq Matthews (right) scored the opening goal for Mamelodi Sundowns against Marumo Gallants on Tuesday night. Photo: BackpagePix
THEY said he was messing up the Mamelodi Sundowns way.
They said he was fixing what was not broken. Damn, they even said he was not good enough to lead the country’s most dominant team of the past decade.
Well, at the risk of falling into the same trap that they did by making too early a pronouncement, here goes: there is every reason to believe Manqoba Mngqithi is going to dish out large helpings of humble pie to his detractors.
He led Sundowns to their second Premiership victory of the season, courtesy of the quick attacking play that has been ridiculed by many as being ‘anti-Sundowns’, when they beat Marumo Gallants 4-1 at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday evening.
Tashreeq Matthews, Iqraam Rayners and Lucas Ribeiro Costa had Daniel Akpeyi picking the ball out of his net as the Brazilians gave the best indication yet that under the perennial assistant coach they are going to be just as dangerous as they have been in the past seven seasons – if not more so.
And when the Nigerian goalkeeper left the pitch injured, his replacement Kagiso Mlambo – an elite league debutant – was also beaten by substitute Sphelele Mkhulise after he made the horrible error of trying to dribble Matthews, but succeeded in gifting Sundowns the goal.
No doubt there will be those who point to the fact that Gallants had them under the cosh in the final 10 minutes to score a consolation goal via Gabadinho Mhango, who’d fluffed a penalty just minutes before he ‘accidentally’ put the ball in the net, as a sign that Masandawana are not flawless.
The discerning football follower would have seen, though, that the brilliant way is going to see Sundowns scoring way more than they used to under Rulani Mokwena, who loved to see his team patiently working their way into the opposition area via numerous passes.
Under Mngqithi, three passes are enough to see the Brazilians in the final third, and that is surely going to see a lot of teams caught cold, as was the case with Gallants yesterday.
They opened the scoring as early as the ninth minute through Matthews, who started the match alongside Aubrey Modiba as Mngqithi made two changes to the side that beat SuperSport United 2-0 in the season opener.
Ronwen Williams gave the ball to Mosa Lebusa, who passed it pretty long to the heart of the field, from where the ball was sent to the right and then a cross was delivered into the box, and Matthews slotted home – having run from the centre.
The second goal came from a swift counter-attack, Costa threading a superb pass to find Matthews, who teed up Rayners to smash it home from close range.
It became 3-0 shortly after the break, with Costa wrong-footing Akpeyi with a delicate left-footer after being sent through by Matthews.
They were gifted the fourth one by the debutant goalkeeper Mlambo as Mkhulise said thank you very much.
Williams made two fantastic saves as Gallants played much better and then saved a penalty, although the reality was that Mhango kicked it directly into his arms as the Bafana goalkeeper did not even move.
The Malawian redeemed himself almost immediately, albeit somewhat fortuitously, as he failed to connect with a low cross with his right, but the ball bounced off the inside of his left leg into the net.
In the end, Sundowns went to the top of the table via goal difference ahead of Orlando Pirates, who beat Polokwane City 3-0 yesterday.
The manner of Masandawana’s victory was the kind that should go a long way towards silencing the prophets of doom who were saying Mngqithi was messing with Sundowns’ style of play.
* In the late match on Tuesday night, Royal AM and Richards Bay played to a goalless draw at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.
On Tuesday afternoon, Orlando Pirates easily saw off Polokwane City 3-0 at the Orlando Stadium.
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