We lost with pride to a better team: Sundowns Ladies coach Tshabalala

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Jerry Tshabalala said he could not fault the fight shown by his players in difficult conditions as they slipped to a 4-0 defeat to Moroccan host club AS FAR in Sunday’s Caf Women’s Champions League final in Rabat.

Downs lacked the composure of their earlier matches, where they scored 11 goals and conceded one, winning all three group stage games, and edged Tanzania’s Simba Queens 1-0 in the semifinal.

The Pretoria team were under pressure early in front of FAR’s hostile home support at Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah when they conceded a penalty from which Fatima Tagnaout scored in the 16th minute.

Red cards to midfielder Rhoda Mulaudzi (34th minute) and captain and centre-back Zanele Nhlapo (52nd) followed, then Ibtissam Jraïdi’s hat trick (54th, 87th and 91st minutes).

“Congratulations to AS FAR. They deserve it, they played better than us,” Tshabalala said.

“I can’t fault my girls – we gave everything we could. But in a game of football there are three results – you win some, lose some or draw some.

“Unfortunately tonight wasn’t to be our night. I would say we’ve lost with pride and to a better team.”

Sundowns drew 0-0 with FAR in the group stage on the way to winning the inaugural Women’s Champions League in Egypt last year.

Tshabalala said the difference was that was a group game where Sundowns were looking for a point, where the stakes were much higher in Sunday night’s winner-takes-all continental cup final in front of the Moroccan club’s hostile home support.

“For the first 10 to 15 minutes we pressed them very high. But it was just unfortunate we conceded an early penalty.

“But to lose to a team we couldn’t break tells us we need to go back and look at ourselves and at how we approached the game.

“We have learnt a lot, and we’ll go back home and rectify our mistakes.”

Downs’ heavy defeat came at the same venue where Banyana Banyana beat hosts Morocco in the final to lift the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations trophy.