Sundowns missed Shalulile, Mngqithi admits after cup trouncing by Pirates

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi admitted the absence of talismanic striker Peter Shalulile was a big factor in them bombing out of the MTN8 semifinals on Saturday.

The Brazilians, the defending champions, lost 3-0 to Orlando Pirates at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane where their former striker Kermit Erasmus opened the scoring in the first half before an in-form Monnapule Saleng completed their rare heavy defeat with a brace in the second half.

Sundowns played the second leg of the semifinal without Shalulile for the fourth game in a row, with the Namibian said to have been injured soon after the first leg that ended in a 0-0 draw in Orlando.

Fielding Gaston Sirino, Themba Zwane and Marcelo Allende upfront on Saturday, Sundowns looked toothless and lacking the focal point the Shalulile, their top scorer in the past two seasons, normally gives them.

“For sure, we will be lying when we say we are not missing Peter,” Mngqithi admitted.

“Everybody knows how dependent we are in his ability to finish our chances and also to pose a lot of danger.

“He also gives a chance from the first line of defence with his high press, speed and so on. That to a certain extent had an effect on the whole team, but we were consoling ourselves with a number of goals [16] we scored in the three matches before this game.

“But we knew for a fact that at some point if we didn’t take our chances we might be exposed for having a player of Peter Shalulile’s calibre.”

Mngqithi admitted Sundowns had no answer to Pirates’ transition game, which came with Saleng’s ability to create chances for himself and his teammates.

“Ever since Saleng started playing their transition is a bit more clinical than before,” Mngqithi said.

“I think Pirates had three or four shots at goal [four in total] and all three were on target.

“We had far too many shots at goal [16 and five on target] but unfortunately we didn’t get anything out of it. I think we were not clinical enough in the final third.

“But more than anything else, I think the goal that they scored very early in the match made life very difficult for us because we always know that playing against Pirates you must worry a lot about your rest defence, and breaking that low block down.

“That’s where I think we lost the game.”

Sundowns travel to Pietermaritzburg to face Maritzburg United in their DStv Premiership match at Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday before finishing the week with another league encounter in Durban against Royal AM on Saturday. 

These two matches will be last for the Brazilians before FIFA's international break in domestic action for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in November and December.

Sundowns will have a chance to avenge their MTN8 semifinal defeat when they host Pirates in the league on December 31, their first match after the World Cup. 

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