Title race already over? Sundowns coach responds to mind games

As is stands, Sundowns have played one extra game compared to the rest of the teams in the top eight of the DStv Premiership, but it can’t detract from what already seems like an unassailable lead at the summit of the standings.

Masandawana are now 14 points clear of second-placed Richards Bay, and 16 clear of SuperSport, the team that they importantly beat 1-0 on Monday night.

Pirates lie in fifth place on the DStv Premiership table, just two points behind fourth-placed Chiefs. Yet, the fact of the matter is that there are 19 log points that separate table-topping Sundowns (43 points) and Chiefs (24 points).

Again, it’s become clear that there is an insurmountable gulf between Sundowns and the chasing pack, and the second half of the season will now mainly revolve around achieving personal club goals.

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Speaking after the match, Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena suggested SuperSport coach Gavin Hunt might downplay talk of anyone being able to compete with The Brazilians, but he added that there was no doubt about how they pushed his side on Monday.

“It was a typical match against a team that has [ambition],” Mokwena commented, as quoted by iDiski Times. “They can say it and I said to Gavin now, ‘he can say he’s got no ambition to win the league title but for sure they had, and they knew that they had to push us and push us’. They didn’t come here to sit back. And when you play against a coach who has won four league titles, he hasn’t won those four league titles by chance, they were not given out to him.

“We expect that there is some form of organisation, some form of tactical surprises like we saw with the inverted wingers, we saw [Ghampani] Lungu playing on the side of the left and coming inside to his right foot. We saw [Thapelo] Maseko on the opposite site and coming inside onto his left foot in the first half, ok then we change it in the second half, immediately at half-time.

“Then he changes again, he matches us with the diamond, he goes diamond vs diamond but then he takes the strikers wide and then it’s a bit difficult because we’re playing with inverted full-backs, so we had to restructure.”

Sundowns return to action on Saturday when they travel to FNB Stadium to face Kaizer Chiefs 

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Sundowns are sitting pretty at the top of the log