A tale of two Sundowns teams down in Japan

Pitso Mosimane is pleased at how his two teams in one have come together this season‚ and the coach believes it will make Mamelodi Sundowns a formidable force at the Fifa Club World Cup.

Sundowns kick off their tournament with Sunday’s quarterfinal in Osaka‚ Japan‚ against host club Kashima Antlers.

The new African champions have come through a gruelling period where they missed their off-season progressing past the group stages of the Caf Champions League‚ then juggled the semifinal and final stages with domestic league action and reaching the MTN8 final.

Through excellent conditioning and rotation‚ Sundowns have mostly kept winning in machine-like fashion.

Mosimane had established players registered for the Champions League campaigning on the continent‚ while new signings were generally blended into their new environment in domestic football.

This “two-team” strategy has slowly blended into one‚ and in Japan Mosimane will have a squad that contains new players Sibusiso Vilakazi‚ Thapelo Morena and Ricardo Nascimento who have gained in strength available to bolster the Champions League veterans.

“What came so soon was I never thought our team could gel so quickly‚ playing two teams in one. I’m happy with that‚” the coach said.

“The last four games we could use different players.

"Themba Zwane was popping up here and there‚ Anthony Laffor was making more starting line-ups than before‚ Vilakazi was playing a lot‚ Percy Tau came up.

“The ‘CBD’ [Leonardo Castro‚ Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly] was not there.

"And we scored 12 goals in three games.

"So it’s been beautiful that the team is gelling.

"And that’s where I wanted it to be – coming up nice.

“So that when we start [next year’s] Champions League again‚ and there is going to be a Nedbank Cup and the league – which team plays?

“So now I’m happy with the team that has been playing – and that’s why I kept them against Ajax and kept the CBD away. They had scored 12 goals.”

Sundowns lost their second match of the season in midweek last week 2-0 away against then second-last Ajax Cape Town at Cape Town Stadium.

They bounced back with a perfect send-off for Japan with a 4-1 win against Free State Stars at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday‚ where the famous CBD attacking trio were reunited in a starting line-up since July in the Champions League.

Castro made his first start and played a hand in setting up two goals‚ while Dolly and Billiat scored one apiece.

The dangerous Tau scored the other two goals‚ having added himself as a fourth dimension to the CBD blistering form in recent weeks. - TMG Digital