Fantastic year for Sundowns
Team from Pretoria made country proud, at home and abroad
MAMELODI Sundowns won 36 of the staggering 55 matches they played this year – a defining feat as the club attempted to establish themselves as a global brand.
In keeping with their attacking style of football, they drew just five games and lost 14. Of those 14 defeats‚ two came in the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan this month and a further five were on the road competing in continental competition.
These included the 1-0 loss in the second leg of the Caf Champions League final in October at the Borg el Arab Stadium in Alexandria‚ which was not enough to prevent a victory on aggregate for Downs, following their 3-0 first-leg win at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
There was a 2-1 first-leg semifinal defeat against Zesco United‚ which Downs won 3-2 on aggregate‚ and a 3-1 away defeat against Enyimba, in Nigeria, fielding a second-string outfit having already wrapped up progression through the group stage.
Sundowns lost just seven times domestically. It included a 3-0 loss in the MTN8 final against Bidvest Wits in early October – and on penalties against SuperSport United in the Telkom Knockout semis in the midst of a gruelling schedule, having recently been crowned African champions.
They lost just five times in the Absa Premier League.
The list of their award nominations this year confirm that Downs have been the best club side in Africa by a clear margin‚ and perhaps even the best seen in the PSL.
Four stars – Khama Billiat‚ Keagan Dolly‚ Hlompho Kekana and Denis Onyango – have been shortlisted in the last five as nominees for Caf’s domestically-based player of the year award.
Two – Billiat and Onyango – made it to the last three. Billiat is the overwhelming favourite to win.
Pitso Mosimane was nominated for Caf’s coach of the year. This week the coach was included at 10th on the International Federation of Football History and Statistics’ prestigious list of top club coaches in the world‚ and Onyango in the same position for goalkeepers.
Mamelodi Sundowns became the African champions – the first from South Africa since Orlando Pirates in 1995‚ despite the distraction of domestic semifinals, and PSL champions‚ smashing their way to a new 71-point record despite the distraction of continental football.
The Pretoria club are also the first southern African team to compete at the Club World Cup (CWC).
Sundowns’ success this year was the culmination of three years of building a team by Mosimane capable of conquering Africa.
The preseason camps on the continent‚ the quality signings from the wallet of billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe – and the failed‚ fact-finding excursions into continental football all played their role. So too did the assembly of a technical team – the collective‚ modern wisdom of which has not been seen in South African football.
All of which culminated in a fantastic year that Downs and Mosimane hope can even be improved on next year.
They played beautiful‚ classic‚ South African soccer that harkened to their combinations of the 1990s. They might even have been better. They certainly achieved more. Their small blemish was being found short on pace and quickness of thinking at the CWC by two Asian teams – South Korea’s Jeonduk Hyundai Motors (4-1) and Kashima Antlers of Japan (2-0) – used to playing at that intensity in their domestic leagues.
But Downs were not despondent and‚ as they had from their first unsuccessful forays into Africa‚ promised to learn and reinvent and be back stronger.
Mosimane came of age, maturing into perhaps the first truly international class football manager South Africa has produced.
Even he found out at the CWC that‚ like any top coach‚ he still has much to learn‚ and that at the top things just get tougher. Overall‚ though‚ bravo Mamelodi Sundowns for restoring our faith and giving us hope of more success to come.
Caf’s shortlist of five for the South African-based player for the year is: Caf’s shortlist of three for the South African-based player for the year:
Caf shortlist for coach of the year: