Can The Mashata Spirit Inspire Sundowns to Victory?

Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams hopes Brazilians will be energised by the memory of a slain popular fan to beat Espérance

The irony of the uncanny similarity between tonight’s CAF Champions League semifinal second-leg clash and that of last year will not be lost on the discerning Mamelodi Sundowns fan.

And as he looks to play his part in cheering his beloved Brazilians to reaching the final, said fan would no doubt have that gnawing feeling of what if history repeats itself.

When they played Wydad Casablanca at the same stage at Loftus Versfeld in 2023, Sundowns had the dark cloud of death hanging above them – their long-serving Public Relations Officer (PRO) Alex Shakoane having just passed away.

There is yet again the pervading gloom of death as Sundowns seek to make it to the ultimate stage of the continent’s premier knockout clash as they host Esperance of Tunisia at the Pretoria rugby stadium tonight.

Popular Sundowns fan and renowned DJ and Comedian Peter 'Mashata' Mabuse was shot dead last weekend and both coach Rulani Mokwena and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams acknowledged his passing during their pre-match media conference address on Thursday.

The duo evidently chose to not see this as an omen of things to come as they paid their tribute to the larger-than-life Mashata and sent their condolences to the family.

“Let me start on a sad note. Like I always say, football is the most important of the least important things in life and as a football club we lost one of our most loyal, dedicated and hardworking members. I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Mashata family. We celebrate his life and thank the family for blessing us with such an incredible soul. We wish them strength in this difficult moment. Of course, words fail us, but what we can do is pray and hope that his soul may rest in eternal peace,” Mokwena said during the pre-match media conference.

Source: SNL24

Williams concurred and hoped that the team would be infused with energy at the thought of the dearly departed Mashata as they seek to pull the rug from underneath Espérance’s feet.

“The Mashata spirit, hopefully, that can energise us and push us forward. We know what we need to do to be in the final,” the goalkeeper said before urging all South Africans to rally behind them as they seek to not only become continental champions but also qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, a feat he believes would serve as inspiration for ‘the next generation to dream big’.

The superstitious Sundowns fan is sure to be worried, especially given that the South African champions go into the match on the backfoot having lost the first leg 1-0 out in Rades last weekend.

Last year, Sundowns appeared to be in the driving seat having held Wydad goalless away and were winning 2-1 when Mothobi Mvala scored an own goal for a 2-2 result that allowed the Moroccans to advance via the away goal rule.

There had been a lot of talk at the club about ‘doing it for Bra Alex’ and many hoped – just as Williams is doing now – that Goldfingers’ spirit would propel Sundowns to the final.

A good thing is that while he feels the loss of Mashata’s death, Mokwena did not appear to be putting too much into it as a potential motivating factor for his team.

Instead, the young coach is drawing inspiration from what he felt was a compelling performance in the first leg and is trusting his team to build on that and score the goals that would see them reach the final for the first time since they won the competition under Pitso Mosimane’s guidance back in 2016.

Williams said he and his teammates are buoyed on by what they did in the inaugural African Football League (AFL).

“We draw inspiration from the AFL final (against the self-same Wydad). We lost away from home. In that game, it was different because we had an away goal. Also important things is that we must not concede and we don’t concede a lot of goals at home – in the AFL and the Champions League. And we score at Loftus, that is the most important thing. That’s the energy we lean towards. We don’t concede many goals and we‘ve got a lot of goals up front.”

And they might – as per Williams’ wishes – have the Mashata spirit energizing them as well.

Not that the discerning Sundowns fan would concur with that given what happened last year at the same stage.