After suffering two consecutive defeats to Stellenbosch in the MTN8 semi-finals, Soccer Laduma lists five previous rare times Mamelodi Sundowns lost two successive games and the last time they lost three matches in a row.
Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has largely been blamed for The Brazilians' poor start to the season but there is also a section of supporters who believe the set of bad results was long coming after the Tshwane giants lost two of their final games last season.
Masandawana lost their only game of the league campaign after going down 1-0 against Cape Town City in the final matchday and went on to lose 2-1 to Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final.
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Given how Sundowns are used to winning in recent seasons, the other previous exception they lost two matches in a row was early last season in October, after their penalty shootout defeat to Pirates in the MTN8 final (although the game ended goalless after extra-time), was followed by another controversial loss on spot-kicks against TS Galaxy, in the Carling Knockout last 16, after a 2-2 draw in extra-time.
Before last season, Masandawana had spent just over four years without losing two games in a row, since 2019, when they lost 1-0 to Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League quarter-final second-leg (but had already won the first-leg 5-0 and progressed 5-1 on aggregate) and after returning to the PSL, lost 2-0 to SuperSport United.
However, three months prior in 2019, the Tshwane giants had also lost two straight matches after they were knocked out 2-1 by Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup first round and lost the subsequent league match 2-0 to AmaZulu.
Before that, Sundowns had a one year break without losing two games in a row, after back-to-back league defeats to the Citizens (1-0) and Polokwane City (3-2).
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Masandawana have not lost three games in succession since October 2017 after going down 2-1 against both Kaizer Chiefs and Usuthu in the league and were also knocked out of the Telkom Knockout by Chippa, who edged them 1-0 in the first round.
The Brazilians' upcoming game is against Eswatini side Mbabane Swallows in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round first-leg on 14 September and that could give Mngqithi breathing space to avoid a third straight loss for the first time in seven years.
