Mamelodi Sundowns showed once again why they enjoy playing against South Africa’s most supported club Kaizer Chiefs — a club in desperate need of a revamp if it is to return to its former glory days.
The Brazilians maintained their stranglehold over a 10-man Amakhosi as they thumped them 4-0 to march into the semifinals of the Carling Knockout Cup at a packed FNB Stadium on Saturday night.
Three first-half goals by strikers Iqraam Rayners (a brace) and Peter Shalulile set up this victory for Sundowns. Khuliso Mudau completed the rout in the second half.
Sundowns deserved their win as they started better, pinning Chiefs into their own half and forcing the home side to commit a string of errors which led to several set pieces around the area.
Chiefs fans experienced frustration and started throwing missiles as early as the 10th minute as they didn’t agree with some of referee Luxolo Badi’s decisions.
In all honesty though, Sundowns dominated the play because of their superior tactical plan which was to press Chiefs into their own territory with numbers. Sundowns wingbacks, Mudau on the right and Aubrey Modiba on the other side, added numbers when Sundowns were attacking, and Chiefs had no answer to this as they lost possession in the middle of the park.
All Sundowns did to contain Chiefs was to employ three defenders in Grant Kekana, Mothobi Mvala and Bathusi Aubaas, who were enough to thwart the Mduduzi Shabalala and Ranga Chivaviro threat.
It was Chiefs players’ confusion as to what they needed to do to break free from Sundowns’ clutches that Njabulo Blom was forced to foul Lucas Riberio in the area and Badi pointed to the spot.
Rayners opened the scoring in the 14th minute and completed his brace in the 22nd minute as Chiefs failed to learn from the mistakes that led to the first goal.
Rayners’ second was an easy one as he got possession inside the area with no Chiefs defender closing in on him and he slotted the ball on the left side of Fiarcre Ntwari’s goals.
Shalulile was unlucky not to put Sundowns 3-0 ahead on the half-hour mark as Chiefs continued to give Sundowns strikers plenty of room to test Ntwari. The Chiefs goalkeeper produced a solid save to turn Shalulile’s shot away.
But there was no stopping Shalulile five minutes before the interval as he tapped in Sundowns’ third goal after more poor defending by the Chiefs defence, this time failing to deal with Modiba’s cross on the left.
As some of the hotheads among Chiefs fans realised the game was not going their side’s way, they threw missiles while some ran onto the field, forcing the referee to briefly stop the game after 34 minutes.
Chiefs were so poor that they produced only a single tame shot by Chivaviro in the first half in which Ronwen Williams, in Sundowns goal, spent most of his time as a spectator.
As Sundowns continued piling the pressure on Chiefs in the second half, Chiefs skipper Inacio Miguel got his marching orders from Badi for a foul on Shalulile a few minutes before the hour mark. It was the Angolan defender’s second yellow in the match.
Favoured by the numbers after Miguel’s departure, Sundowns attacked with greater intensity as Riberio set up Mudau for the final nail that put the match way beyond Chiefs.
The defeat highlights the fact that coach Nasreddine Nabi and Chiefs’ management must dig deep to beef up the squad in January as it has now become clear Chiefs remain a shadow of what they once were in South African football.
The bad behavior by fans will attract a second huge fine for Chiefs this season. Chiefs felt the wrath of the league’s DC last week for the behaviour of some of their supporters when Sundowns beat them 2-1 in a league match at this venue towards the end of September.
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