Oh, what a difference a little bit of hard work makes. Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Mamelodi Sundowns, shedding their recent staid and costly work rate, produced a vintage display and roasted Benoni Premier United, the team known as the Rabbits, in a 5-2 drubbing at the Super Stadium on Wednesday night.
Taking into account the limitations in the Benoni defence, in particular, Sundowns gave a performance worthy of champions. Midfielder Godfrey Sapula recorded his first PSL hat-trick and Venezuelan international striker Jose Torrealba provided a vintage performance in scoring twice and having a hand in all three of the other goals.
Yet, as fate would have it, the display of sustained brilliance unfolded after Sundowns conceded a bumbling opening goal in only the fifth minute when both their central defenders, Benson Mhlongo and Michael Manzini, made costly mistakes to hand Nigerian Vina Okorfor a goal on a plate.
At this point it must have seemed to the Brazilians that the pall of misery hanging over them after successive nightmarish defeats against Ajax Cape Town was set to remain firmly in place, with millionaire club owner Patrice Motsepe hardly able to look more miserable had he been at a funeral.
But although Benoni came back from a 2-1 deficit and equalised shortly before half-time through a penalty from Sello Mhlambe after Oscar Ntwagae had handballed, the writing was already on the wall at the interval with Sundowns firmly in control.
Torrealba ran off the ball as a decoy for Sapula to score in the 21st minute from a Lerato Chabangu cross — and the Sapula-Torrealba tandem was in full flight again in the 40th minute after the Venezuelan bamboozled the Benoni defence and the industrious Sapula was on hand for his second goal.
Benoni came into this match with four creditable victories against the likes of Orlando Pirates, Jomo Cosmos and Wits University, but the second half saw them running around in circles and developed into little more than a demonstration of Sundowns’ magic.
A Torrealba shot was blocked by goalkeeper Noel Yobouu in the 50th minute with Sapula completing his memorable hat-trick from the rebound, before the midfielder returned the compliment by presenting Torrealba with a defence-splitting pass for Sundowns’ fourth goal in the 67th minute.
And the Brazilians were in total control in the 76th minute when Sabula and Josta Dladla engineered Torrealba’s second goal — another combined effort of the highest order. — Sapa