Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena expressed his disappointment with the pitch conditions, insisting that it played a role in their 3-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates on penalties in the MTN8 final clash on Saturday night.
The game ended 0-0 after 120 tiresome minutes which led to a dramatic penalty shootout at a windy Moses Mabhida Stadium, in Durban.
This victory saw Pirates win the MTN8 title for the fifth time since the telecommunications company took over as sponsor in 2008. It was also the club’s second top-eight title in a row.
Sipho Chaine was the hero of the night as he saved three penalties. One can say that he was out to prove his doubters wrong. Last week, Chaine was replaced by Richard Ofori when Bucs went to penalties against Jwaneng Galaxy in the Champions League.
In fact, no team has reached the top eight final and returned without lifting the trophy as much as Sundowns have in the PSL era [5 times].
RULANI MOKWENA ON ‘BAD’ PITCH CONDITIONS
Speaking in the post-match interview, Mokwena attributed some of the blame to the poor condition of the Moses Mabhida pitch.
“The conditions [whether; windly] were quite difficult. The pitch was not the best and quite long, heavy and slow” said Mokwena. “Even though they tried to water it. But it sounds like sour grapes when you try to speak about it when you don’t win you know.”
The 36-year-old mentor went on to say that what happened on the night happened. Mokwena insists that Sundowns should move on and focus on football itself.
“So, let’s stay with what it is. As I said even in the press conference, let’s leave things on the periphery and focus on the football,” he added.
“And on the football, I say we did our best and tried very hard. We are in a difficult moment but to generate the chances that we had without Thapelo Morena and Lucas Ribeiro shows how important they are for us.
“I said it even in the press conference that when you pray for the sun be prepared to deal with the rain and mud. That’s our lives and we have to be prepared for these situations”
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