Malibongwe Khoza (centre) of Mamelodi Sundowns starts the celebrations after scoring against Mbabane Swallows. Photo: BackpagePix
YOU know the rest of the Premiership clubs are in trouble when the coach of the dominant club is not completely satisfied with a 4-0 victory in continental competition.
Add to that the fact that the team that started that massive win was almost completely different to the one that had began the domestic season with a 2-0 success, having also been 4-0 winners in Africa, and you wonder just how the rest are going to cope with such strength in depth.
The story of Mamelodi Sundowns’ domination of the South African league is common knowledge.
Granted, there are those who doubt that the Brazilians can make it eight championship titles in a row. But on the strength of their last three matches, it is hard to see how they will be stopped.
And then their coach Manqoba Mngqithi – though he believes the Brazilians are on the right track – goes on and says he is still expecting the multiple champions to improve.
What chance do the rest of the Premiership campaigners stand of unseating Sundowns, really?
“I am happy that the team is beginning to score,” Mngqithi said after their 4-0 defeat of eSwatini’s Mbabane Swallows in the second leg of the CAF Champions League second-round tie they won 8-0 on aggregate at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday night.
Yellow Nation, #RabatsenaGape on Tuesday! 💪#Sundowns #TotalEnergiesCAFCL pic.twitter.com/KmMkb1fEfs
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) September 22, 2024
Kobamelo Kodisang, Malibongwe Khoza, Thembinkosi Lorch and Siphelele Mkhulise scored the goals.
“My main quest is to try and see this team score a lot of goals, and I believe we are (heading) in that direction,” Mngqithi said.
“I am not a fan of just football without goals or attacks, or without terminating attacks.
“We are getting into that mode of knowing that we initiate an attack, consolidate it and terminate it, and then we start again and create traction in terms of the number of the chances we create.”
As has already been evident, Mngqithi is going to move away from Sundowns being renowned as a great ball-playing team that starves opposition of the ball without thoroughly punishing them.
“It won’t help us to have possession for 20 minutes and take one shot at goal,” he said.
“But if we try to have many segments of attacks that are terminated, not necessarily to rush, but to try and build a team that is geared towards creating as many chances as possible ... and we are (moving) in that direction.”
⏪ 🅸🅲🆈🅼🅸 ⏪
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) September 22, 2024
Mamelodi Sundowns secured their place in the #TotalEnergiesCAFCL group stages with a dominant 4⃣➖0⃣ victory over Mbabane Swallows, completing an 8⃣➖0⃣ aggregate triumph.#SABCSportFootball pic.twitter.com/X5aw7mUhAZ
Now through to the group stages of the continent’s premier club knockout competition, Sundowns will shift their attention to the domestic game for the next week, starting with tomorrow’s clash against newcomers and whipping boys Marumo Gallants at Loftus Versfeld (7.30pm kick-off).
No doubt the question about that match is not what the outcome will be, but rather by how many goals Sundowns will score, right?
“It is always nice to win and score as many goals because it brings confidence into the group. Most important for me is that it breeds competition within the group,” Mngqithi said.
“Now that this team has scored four, it is a wait and see what will happen against Marumo on Tuesday.
“It is pleasing to have won these three matches because we are building momentum.”
It is the kind of momentum that the rest of the Premiership clubs are going to struggle to contend with – even this early on – because Mngqithi is yet to get the team playing the way he wants them to.