Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 Kaizer Chiefs: MTN8 semi-finals 2nd leg, Lucas Moripe Stadium, 23 September
After two exciting legs of action, we now know the identity of the finalists of the 2023/24 MTN8. Rhulani Mokwena has made it to first cup final as the solo head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns having seen his side exit in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup last season as well as in the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League. His team will face Orlando Pirates next weekend. Kaizer Chiefs, meanwhile, take a step closer to a ninth season with no silverware for their fans to celebrate. Over two legs, they had their share of goalscoring chances, were the architects of their own downfall at times, and also missed a golden chance to play a Brazilians side without some key players in the two tussles. In this big-game review, Soccer Laduma assesses the second leg from a tactical perspective, looking at the team selections, formations, key coach comments and even the 'dark arts'. Were Sundowns worthy victors in the end? Read on…
Line-ups:
Ntseki changes his right side
There were four changes to the Kaizer Chiefs XI from their midweek defeat to SuperSport United. In goal, Itumeleng Khune started in the loss on Wednesday night despite coach Molefi Ntseki saying that Brandon Petersen wasn't injured, instead citing rotation for the change. The latter returned and captained the side for this match. At right back, Zitha Kwinika's run of starts was ended as Reeve Frosler earned a recall. And in attack, we saw the two powerful, physical attackers in Christian Saile and Jasond Gonzalez dropped to the bench in favour of Pule Mmodi and Tebogo Potsane. The latter had not even made the bench in midweek.
Mokwena polishes his diamond
In the first meeting, Mamelodi Sundowns used their 3-2-4-1 shape with Neo Maema as a wide player down the left and Aubrey Modiba as a left-sided number eight. With Peter Shalulile fit again, coach Rhulani Mokwena has returned to a midfield diamond. Against Orlando Pirates in midweek, Sipho Mbule came into the XI as the right-sided shuttler in the midfielder four. He had a very strong match, pressing aggressively and doing a good job of moving wide, outside the Soweto giants' midfield, to receive and progress the ball. The coach stuck with that shape in this match, although there are significant differences from how they played the diamond last term. Firstly, Modiba was the usual left back in the 2022/23 season and he gave more width and ball-carrying ability than current left back, Abdelmounaim Boutouil. In the midfield, Maema was crucial last season, but it's been Marcelo Allende on the left of the diamond in the two fixtures this week with Mbule preferred to Maema. Lucas Ribeiro Costa also interprets the striker role differently to Cassius Mailula. In fact, with Maema and Modiba, it's an even narrower shape this season than it was last term. With Rivaldo Coetzee inverting into midfield at times (but less so than in the 3-2-4-1 system), it can mean the centre of the pitch is even more clogged.
Chiefs have a stronger first half
In the previous two meetings between these sides this season, a lot was made of how slowly Ntseki's side started those fixtures. They didn't have any shots before the interval in the PSL clash and it was a similar story in the first leg at FNB Stadium four weeks ago. This time around, they were far more alive in the opening 45 minutes. The question is whether that was down to falling behind within about eight seconds or whether it was simply better preparation and a clearer plan to execute. What we can say is that Amakhosi have been much better in the first half of their two encounters since the first leg. Against Royal AM, they had nine shots in the opening stanza and were largely 'on it' from the start. And against Matsatsantsa, they got into good positions constantly in attack, but again, was that down to game state? They were trailing after a couple of minutes in that fixture, so did they simply start in sleepwalking fashion before being awoken by the early concession of a goal? In this match, we saw the Naturena-based outfit pressing aggressively in the opening minutes. Ntseki said postmatch: "When you look at first half, we did not allow them to play from the back. We applied a very organised front pressing because we intercepted a lot of balls, especially when they were building from the back." If you look at how Chiefs set up, it was very much a lone holding player in Yusuf Maart with Edson Castillo as more of a number eight. It's not clear whether this is because of the goal threat the latter has shown, his perceived weakness as being the first receiver off his own back four (see the opening Sundowns goal in the league match in August) or simply his ability to occupy the half-spaces. With George Matlou and Castillo as eights, we also saw Mmodi and Potsane in very narrow roles. In effect, the side were almost pressing with a 4-1-box-1 shape. Ntseki summed up his plan by saying, "We are fully aware that it's a very narrow (Sundowns) approach and when you play against a team who have a very narrow approach, today we played with eights, it was more about putting pressure in the first line of confrontation. You've never seen Sundowns playing so many back passes as we saw today." What the Glamour Boys did was block the middle of the pitch and funnel the Brazilians to the flanks. With no real dribblers at fullback or on the sides of the diamond, Chiefs could press Downs against the touchline and force errors. We saw Boutouil and Mosa Lebusa often have passes charged down and out for a throw-in. It wasn't easy for the home side to work it from Ronwen Williams to the final third in the early stages. Allende moving wider and Ribeiro working the left channel helped to solve this issue. As Mokwena said post-match, "Credit to Chiefs because they pressed a bit different to the other teams. They put pressure and direct you to the sides, they directed us to the left in the first half. Football is a lot of tactical questions and I'm glad our boys were able to answer." The interesting thing is that this plan to block the middle and send the Tshwane giants wide was different to the plan that Arthur Zwane cooked up last season. The former head coach, now assistant, said at the time, "We had a plan and our plan was for them to play the ball inside as we're going to get the ball there. And from first half, we had about five of those."
Pressing questions of Petersen
A lot has been made of the Soweto giants' early pressing in the match, but Sundowns also did it very well. Aside from forcing Petersen into a howler after eight seconds, we saw Thatayaone Ditlhokwe put a pass straight out of play and almost score an own goal with a back pass. We saw Given Msimango let a ball go under his foot and out for a corner when he was closed down. Mokwena spoke about his own side's pressing, saying, "We did it to Pirates on Wednesday, we were very, very aggressive. We did it to Chiefs, our first goal comes from homework. We knew exactly what happens when they kick off, we knew what Ditlhokwe does. We work very hard to pick up small details that the players are able to execute." Jose Riveiro hailed the pressing of Sundowns in midweek too, commenting, "What I know, what I can tell you is that Sundowns is exceptionally good in pressing as well, we used to think about Sundowns as a team that is good on the ball and it's true, but they are also good when it's time to defend." Don't forget that the Chloorkop-based outfit scored from their high pressing in the August league match as Petersen gave Castillo a difficult pass and Shalulile forced the error from which Ribeiro scored. Even going back to last season, we saw them open the scoring very early in the 4-0 win as Gaston Sirino's pressing forced Siyabonga Ngezana into a howler when building up. An interesting comment from the Brazilians coach, despite his satisfaction with how many times they broke the Chiefs press, was that Mothobi Mvala was a loss in that regard. He spoke about how the converted centre-back can be patient on the ball and draw opponents to press before bypassing them. He even said that his side relishes playing against opponents who press high!
Downs' smart tactical fouling
In recent matches, we've seen a lot of 'devil' to Sundowns' play. Some may call it the dark arts and Mokwena was even asked if he saw some of the North Africans' tactics within his own side. What this refers to is his side's regular use of tactical fouls. When opponents try to counter-attack or transition at speed, the league's defending champions counter-press aggressively. If they can't win the ball, they simply break down the play by chopping down their opponents. This can be done in a subtle way or in an obvious, cynical way. Riveiro clearly didn't want to go into too much detail in midweek, but he touched on the topic by saying, "There were a lot of interruptions, I think we finished with six fouls, Sundowns 24… but that's a different story." In the August league meeting with Amakhosi, Sundowns had 74% of the possession in the first half, yet managed to commit nine fouls in 45 minutes from the opponents' 26% possession of the ball. Chiefs only fouled four times. Effectively, Mokwena's side were committing one foul for every 10 passes that the Soweto giants attempted, whilst it was taking over 68 Sundowns passes for Ntseki's side to commit an infringement. In the Pirates match in midweek, Downs committed 24 fouls as Riveiro mentioned. A massive 16 of those came after the interval as they protected a 1-0 lead. They were dealt five yellow cards in the second half and seven overall. In last Saturday's match, we saw the Tshwane giants again commit some very smart fouls. Teboho Mokoena was often the culprit, but Boutouil is not averse to pulling back his man if his attempts to intercept the ball are bypassed. What all this means is that Sundowns are a very streetwise team and referees need to wise up to this strategy. Opponents are also responsible for highlighting these incidents to the officials at the time.
Were Chiefs robbed?
In weeks, months and even years to come, you can be sure that Kaizer Chiefs will look back on the late penalty shout. As a freekick was cleared out to Thapelo Maseko, his loose touch saw the ball reach Mduduzi Mdantsane. The former SuperSport United winger clearly kicks the back of the Amakhosi attacking midfielder's leg. There is no getting away from it – it's a stonewall penalty. The clocks read 91:49, which means about one third of five added minutes have already elapsed. Regardless of what happened in the previous 180-odd minutes of this tie, a penalty at that stage would have given Chiefs a chance to draw 2-2 in Tshwane and to progress on away goals. Of course, there have been instances of the Naturena-based side getting significant fortune in terms of refereeing decisions, but that doesn't excuse referee Luxolo Badi missing such an obvious and potentially decisive foul. As former Downs captain Hlompho Kekana said on SABC Sport in his post-match analysis, "Easy, all day. It is a penalty." Let's not forget that Sundowns also got some advantage in an MTN8 shootout in 2021 when Kennedy Mweene came a long way off his line for all four penalties he saved in that match. To be fair, Khune also saved a penalty from Lyle Lakay which clearly crosses the line due to the spin on the ball, even if the keeper was seen shouting, "Never!" after that moment.
How the winner was conceded 'critical phases'
In most of these big games, we analyse how all the goals were scored. Considering the opener and the Mbule handball were such obvious incidents, we will simply focus on the second goal instead. Firstly, this came from a corner for Chiefs with 48:11 on the clock. Du Preez's delivery sees six Amakhosi players in the box but none stopping Williams from being able to make an easy, unchallenged claim. Neither Castillo nor Ditlhokwe do enough to prevent Williams from throwing the ball out to Mokoena. For years, opponents used to get in the face of Khune to stop him launching fast counters with his impeccable distribution. It was naïve of Chiefs not to do the same here. From there, Sundowns' players show more desire to get forward than the Soweto giants' players show to get back into position. Ribeiro receives a switch of play with no one tracking him. Frosler goes to ground when it wasn't necessary and takes himself out of the game. And when Ribeiro picks up the loose ball and sends up a lovely back-post cross, only then do we see Sifiso Hlanti sprint to try to challenge Shalulile. The latter is just back from injury, but he shows more physical ability and desire than any of the Glamour Boys defenders who he was marking in the box some 80 yards away! Ntseki loves mentioning these so-called critical phases early and late in each half, but they're only relevant due to the players losing concentration or being fatigued. Goals can be scored or conceded at any moment. Chiefs had depleted a lot of energy in that first half with their attempts at pressing high and didn't have the desire or endurance to get back and stop that second goal.
Mokwena's subs were key again
After his first leg excellence to switch to a traditional back four with attacking fullbacks in the 76th minute, the young tactician again influenced the outcome of this match with his alterations. Firstly, Mbule was taken off for Maseko to give genuine width down the left and an out-ball. He nearly created a goal for Themba Zwane soon after. 'Mlungisi' later added Lesiba Nku and then Terrence Mashego (in place of the injured Nku) to further increase the width on the park and stretch Chiefs. When the visitors threw on the physical and direct Saile and Gonzalez and hit more long balls in the final 10 minutes, he got Brian Onyango onto the pitch to deal with the duels. He was also looking to adjust to find an advantage or nullify a threat. The Tshwane giants played three distinct formations across the two legs at different stages. They never sit on their hands and hope. They seize control of matches with their use of substitutes. Chiefs' changes from the bench were pretty much just straight swaps in this match having at least tried to play Du Preez behind Gonzalez in the first leg.
Summary – Superior pressing and build-up
Anything less than a draw for Sundowns in the first leg would have been unfair. In this second match, it was much more even and that late penalty will be a huge source of disappointment for the Chiefs players and technical team. Ntseki was not very happy with being asked why his side didn't do more to score the winner and was quite tetchy in his reply, saying, "If we got the penalty and score, we would have been the team to stop Sundowns." Realistically, the first leg was a missed opportunity considering how late the goal was conceded plus the fact that they got to face a Downs side without Shalulile. With their archnemesis fit again, he scored twice to make it nine career goals against the Glamour Boys. It's now one win in nine matches for Chiefs against Sundowns and that came with Shalulile absent. In this second leg, the Soweto giants shot themselves in the foot with the early howler. They also came up against a defence missing two key men in Mudau and Mvala and didn't use that to their advantage enough. And when you look at it overall, Sundowns are simply a better build-up team than Chiefs are at high pressing. And the Brazilians are certainly a much better high-pressing team than Amakhosi are at playing out from the back! That was the difference in class and quality over the two legs and not a penalty that wasn't awarded. Chiefs need to take a look at where they lost this tie and not focus on the refereeing or they'll never bridge the gap to the champions.
