It was the ultimate indignity for Kaizer Chiefs in the battle of Premier League giants at Loftus on Saturday afternoon when a Mamelodi Sundowns team — reduced to 10 men — strung together 44 passes before surrendering the ball.
And despite the red carding of goal scorer Jose Torrealba in the 67th minute for a verbal offence, there was no halting the rampant, calculating Brazilians as they forged to a decisive 2-1 win in the intense PSL title race and probably eliminated Chiefs from the reckoning in the process.
Sundowns have now vaulted above Chiefs in the log table and, with three games in hand, have a potential 10-point advantage over their bitter rivals.
And while Ajax Cape Town have effectively displaced Chiefs at the top of the log, it is defending champions Sundowns who are best-placed in the title race with a significant number of games in hand.
They produced a pedigreed performance on a steamy, humid afternoon that must have conjured up visions of genuine Brazilian football for new Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Albert Parreira.
The local Brazilians, as Sundowns are known, stamped their authority from the outset and Venezualan international Torrealba opened the score in the 12th minute with a masterly goal that started with a clearance from Sundowns goalkeeper Brian Baloyi.
There was an element of controversy to Chiefs’ equalising goal in the 31st minute when Sundowns left-back David Kannemeyer misjudged a tackle and was adjudged by referee Ace Ncobo to have fouled Kaizer Motaung jnr, who had lost possession and gave the suspicion of engineering the penalty.
Chiefs goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez stepped up to take the resultant penalty — needing to score from the rebound off the diving Baloyi from his second attempt. Ncobo ordered the original kick to be retaken because players were infringing on the area.
But Chiefs’ valiant goalkeeping hero was transformed into something of a villain when he dropped what appeared to be an innocuous cross from Josta Dladla in the 52nd minute and allowed Lerato Chabangu to tap the ball into the net for what was to prove the winning goal.
Torrealba’s sending off came out of the blue with Sundowns seemingly in control 15 minutes later after the diminutive striker had disputed a blatant Chiefs’ infringement that had gone unpunished.
Normally conspicuous for keeping his cool, the Venezualan’s English is not the easiest to understand. But whatever was said, Ncobo took sufficient exception to decide it warranted a red card.
Instead of taking advantage of playing with an extra man for the final 27 minutes, Chiefs were never able to intimidate Sundowns or stamp their authority on the proceedings — indeed it was the articulate Brazilians who missed three golden opportunities from sharp counter-attacks during the final stanza.
And although Sundowns at times looked panicky in defence without injured number one goalkeeper Calvin Marlin, the rusty Baloyi ultimately proved his mettle with a couple of timely saves in the closing stages. – Sapa