Sunday | September 13, 2020
Gastón Sirino led Mamelodi Sundowns to a third their Nedbank Cup trophy at Orlando Stadium in Soweto Saturday night.
Sundowns beat Bloemfontein Celtic 1-0.
The Uruguayan scored the only goal of the cup-final in the 80th minute, very late in the game. Sirino received a pass from Themba Zwane and sold a dummy to lose Celtic’s defender and create space to shoot to the bottom corner, far beyond the stretched Celtic shot-stopper Sipho Chaine’s reach.
Pitso Mosimane has become the first South African coach to win a treble in one season. At the end of the game, he said: “We are meant to win the trophies”.
Such has been the relentless dominance of the team dubbed The Brazilians. They were brilliant throughout the 2019/20 in the domestic front – the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
Neither did Mosimane show emotions when a goal finally came nor celebrate the Nedbank Cup victory when the last whistle blew.
The puzzling fiasco of Tebogo Langerman winding up on the team sheet while serving suspension was seriously weighing heavily on his shoulders. It was a pedestrian issue. How did it happen?
Of course, the Langerman matter leaves a cloud of doubt on the status of Sundowns win over Celtic. For now, it is a moot point. PSL will surely make a ruling on it in the coming days.
Celtic’s moments of brilliance
The Nedbank Cup final was a game of few opportunities.
In the first Celtic could have gone one up when their striker’s header was parried over the bar by Sundowns goalkeeper Dennis Onyango. He was on duty in the second half when he pulled a pointblank save that denied Siwelele parity.
Moments before Sundowns secured their cup-winning solo goal, Sirino smashed an upright with a wonder strike.
Bloemfontein Celtic coach John Maduka said they played very deep against a dangerous team. He stressed that may be the reason they came out second best. However, Maduka was full of praise of his players who, like all PSL’s, had been cooped up in the Covid-19 “bio-bubble” in the Gauteng province for nearly two months.
There is an incentive for the Nedbank Cup runner-ups though. Celtic will be competing in the CAF Confederation Cup next season by virtue of finishing behind Mamelodi Sundowns whose league win retains them continental club participation.