Unbelievable MTN8 exit for Mamelodi Sundowns as Orlando Pirates advance in dramatic penalty shoot-out

THE LOOK OF DISBELIEF that flickered across Tlhopie Motsepe’s face said it all. Mamelodi Sundowns’ elimination from the MTN8 was an unbelievable outcome of a match they appeared to have sewn up until a freakish defensive blunder let them down.

The Brazilians’ chairman - the son of owner Patrice Motsepe - sitting in the stands next to former player turned club official Tiyani Mabunda, looked as though he’d seen a "Ghost" (excuse the pun) following a 4-1 defeat via the shoot-out from the  penalty spot.

Sundowns were uncharacteristically poor in the kicks – both Teboho Mokoena and Marcelo Allende having their attempts saved by Sipho Chaine - while the Buccaneers’ kickers were all on the mark to help their team reach a fourth successive final of the season-opening tournament.

This loss though, should not be put down to the kicks. Not when Sundowns went into the second leg with the advantage of having scored at Orlando Stadium in the first leg that was drawn 1-1. Not when they added to that advantage by taking the lead early in the game through an Iqraam Rayners goal; and particularly not when they could have put it beyond Pirates’ reach early in the second half.

Football, we are always told, is a game of margins. The margin of error is so small that one inch either way of the goals and the outcome of a match is decided.

Sundowns learnt this much the hard way at a packed Lucas MoripeStadium on Saturday. Up 2-1 on aggregate, they were dominant and started the second half with verve.

Rayners had a glorious opportunity to complete a brace on the 49th minute - the striker finding himself free on the left side of the box. He shot across the diving Chaine, beating the Bucs goalkeeper. The ball ricocheted off the inside of the upright and went back into play. An inch to the left and Sundowns would have been 2-0 up and the match would likely have been over as a contest.

That miss proved to be the turning point and while Pirates did not fashion many scoring opportunities, they threatened with Thalente Mbatha’s long range effort which Ronwen Williams did brilliantly to push out, inducing a celebratory smile out of Motsepe in the stands.

Later in the match though, Williams and his defence went to sleep and allowed the Buccaneers back into the contest. Oswin Apollis was allowed time and space to deliver a cross from the left and there was no one marking Tshegofatso Mabasa near the penalty spot.

The striker who’d come on as a substitute headed the ball and it fortuitously bounced off Kamogelo Sebelebele’s knee into the net.

Williams and his teammates protested in vain, claiming a hand ball that was not there but the match officials were not falling for it.

Yet even with that disappointment of allowing Pirates back in, Sundowns, their fans and their boss Motsepe no doubt still felt they had Pirates’ beating. After all Williams is renowned for his brilliance at spot kicks.

Not so this time however, as he was beaten on all four occasions while Chaine did brilliantly to keep those two kicks out – with both Mokoena and Allende shooting the same side.

Could the Pirates number one have given Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos, who sat in the stands with assistant Helman Mkhalele, food for thought ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria next month? Can he be given a start ahead of the man he outshone at Atteridgeville? Probably not!

But he at least got his boss, Mpumi Khoza who sat unemotional by his lonesome in the stand for the entire match, to grin a little as he shook the hand of the man two sat away from him at the final whistle.

Motsepe, on the other hand, was crestfallen – disappointed at seeing his team failing for umpteenth time to reach the MTN8 final as their bitter rivals continue the domination of a competition they’ve made their own in the last three years.