Mandela caused a bit of a problem for us in Guinea‚ says Sundowns coach Mosimane

23 May 2018 - 09:58 By Mark Gleeson
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Pitso Mosimane of Mamelodi Sundowns during the Absa Premiership match between Maritzburg United and Mamelodi Sundowns at Harry Gwala Stadium on April 25, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
Pitso Mosimane of Mamelodi Sundowns during the Absa Premiership match between Maritzburg United and Mamelodi Sundowns at Harry Gwala Stadium on April 25, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
Image: Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images

One point on the road is better than none‚ said Pitso Mosimane as he both bemoaned his Mamelodi Sundowns side giving up a lead away the match against Horoya of Guinea in Conakry on Tuesday.

But Mosimane also hailed Sundowns' second half comeback in the 2-2 draw in their African Champions League encounter.

“I’m happy‚” he told the post-match press conference at the September 28th Stadium before changing his mind.

“Actually‚ I’m a little bit happy because we were 2-1 up and my centre-back left the most important player (Horoya central defender Aboubacar Camara) alone on set-pieces.

“We all know he is the only player who scores with the head.

"My player left him. But it’s football.”

It was another torturous defensive performance from Bangaly Soumaharo‚ whose mistakes in the friendly against Barcelona last week were embarrassing‚ and he was again at fault as Camara scored in the 83rd minute to equalise after Sundowns had come from a goal down to go 2-1 ahead.

Soumaharo was playing again in the place of Ricardo Nascimento‚ left behind in South Africa because of a respiratory tract infection.

Sundowns were largely outplayed and should have been behind by the half-time break.

But Horoya only opened the scoring six minutes into the second half through Mandela Ocansey and then fell asleep as Sundowns suddenly sprung to life and wrestled controlled of a game played on a poor quality pitch and in sticky hot and humid conditions.

“What I said before the match is exactly what happened‚" Mosimane said.

"We needed to respect our opponent‚ we need to be very careful.

"Exactly the same players I mentioned before; Mandela‚ (Ibrahim Sory) Sankhon and the two midfielders caused a bit of a problem for us in the first half.

"But I think it was a game of two halves. We woke up very late‚ we were asleep‚” the Sundowns coach said.

“We couldn’t play our normal game in the first half. In the second half we played the way we always play and we could find each other with the passes. That’s the way we play.

“We showed the experience that we have‚ we could control the midfield and play‚ and that’s why we got the two goals because we went through with inter-passing. And we have quick strikers.

“But as I told you before‚” Mosimane said to the assembled reporters‚ “we will try and win.

“We tried to win but they equalised. And I said if we don’t win‚ at least we must not lose.”

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