Dazzling Sundowns in Domestic Football Seventh Heaven

If only they could be similarly brilliant in the Champions League where success continues to prove elusive

Argentinian Matias Esquivel is joined by his teammates as he celebrates his maiden goal for the Brazilians during their 5-1 demolition of Kaizer Chiefs

Such was Mamelodi Sundowns’ demolition of Kaizer Chiefs on Thursday that you wonder just how the rest of the DSTV Premiership teams are going to stop the Brazilians’ dominance of the domestic league.

At the rate they are going, Sundowns are going to rule the Premiership roost for many years to come. They won a seventh successive championship title with six matches to spare by smashing Kaizer Chiefs 5-1 in their own backyard and it would be safe to bet on them stretching that run to ten.

They are unbeaten in all their 24 league matches. Avoid defeat in the remaining six and they will become the first team in the 28-year Premier Soccer League (PSL) history to complete a season without a loss. It would be a phenomenal achievement for a team that seems to be getting better with every campaign.

Sundowns will once again represent South Africa in the CAF Champions League next year. Dominant as they have been locally though, the Brazilians are yet to do the same on the continent. They have been crowned African champions once, back in 2016. But since then they’ve continuously failed at the quarterfinal or semifinal stage.

Their performance against Chiefs on Thursday left me wondering.

If only Sundowns had been as ruthless against Esperance as they were against Chiefs. If only the Brazilians were as incisive with their passing at Loftus Versfeld last week as they were at the FNB Stadium on Thursday. If only Rulani Mokwena’s boys played with the same appetite for victory. If only they were as precise with their finishing.

If only...

As they enthusiastically celebrated their championship success, I suspect they must have had a gnawing feeling within them.

If only we’d been half this good against Esperance.

Of course, it is brilliant that they won the domestic championship. Surely though, it is continental glory Sundowns most crave. They were within touching distance of it. And a performance as compellingly clinical as the one they dished out against Chiefs would have seen them get the better of Esperance wouldn’t it?

That they did not and could not confirm just how huge the gap in standard between our league and the Champions League is. While Sundowns easily toy with local opposition even when Mokwena is using his second-string team – like he did against Chiefs on Thursday - they struggle to break down continental opposition.

Lest that stellar showing against Chiefs has erased your memory, let me remind you that Sundowns failed to find the opposition net in their last four Champions League matches. The Brazilians drew goalless against Simba in the quarterfinals before winning via the shoot-out from the penalty spot. In the semifinal against Esperance, they lost 1-0 in each of the two away and home legs. Their best football was just not good enough against Africa’s top sides.   

It must surely give Mokwena - who was adamant in both his post-match media conference addresses that Sundows were by far the better team, that they created the better chances and dominated play - food for thought.

Does he continue to play the beautiful football that ‘would make my grandfather proud’ though it fails to deliver the trophy he so covets, or does he go the pragmatic route of playing to win rather than to impress?

That performance against Chiefs is likely to see the young coach sticking to his guns. But he has to realise that Amakhosi are way below the likes of Simba, Esperance, Wydad and Al Ahly in quality.

Granted it cannot be denied that he is from a lineage of great footballers – grandpa Scara, dad Julius Sono and Uncle Jomo Sono were fantastic attacking players. But what’s the use of being married to a way if it is not delivering the desired results?

I’ll be the first to admit that it is a pleasure watching Sundowns living up to the game’s moniker of ‘The Beautiful Game’. But when it fails to see them past Esperance as it did recently, what’s the point?

Perhaps when it comes to Champions League football, Mokwena should rake a leaf out of a man who once occupied the same seat at Sundowns and learn that ‘there’s no room for comments in the results column.’

If only so he could add that second star above the club’s crest.