Big-game review: Kaizer Chiefs 1-1 Mamelodi Sundowns
MTN8 first leg semi-final, FNB Stadium, 2 September
We are at half-time of the two MTN8 semi-finals with the second legs some three weeks away. Kaizer Chiefs became the first side this season to deny Mamelodi Sundowns a victory after seven successive wins. Despite that, coach Rhulani Mokwena said post-match, "The feeling is like a victory", although he was cognizant of the fact that his club doesn't celebrate stalemates. Typical of such a massive game between rivals, there were plenty of talking points in the match, from the team selections, the substitutions made (both enforced and tactical) and how the goals were conceded. How did this fixture compare to the league meeting between Amakhosi and the Brazilians a month ago? In this review, Soccer Laduma takes a look at the tactics behind the 1-1 scoreline as well as the key decisions and incidents.
Chiefs go with Kwinika
In the league match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs in early August, Reeve Frosler was seen receiving some visible acclaim from coach Rhulani Mokwena at full-time for how well he had shackled a lively Thapelo Maseko. In many ways, their individual battle was the key talking point from that day. Neither player started this match, though, with the former SuperSport United winger injured and Frosler dropped. The latter had started at left back away to Stellenbosch FC in midweek, but that call was largely to protect Sifiso Hlanti from a fourth booking, which would have led to a suspension for this clash. As was discussed in-depth in Mokwena's post-match press conference, Zitha Kwinika's selection at right back meant a narrower defence and almost a third centre-back being selected rather than an attacking wingback. The rest of the Amakhosi XI was as expected, with no sign of Siyethemba Sithebe as an extra central midfielder like we saw at Lucas Moripe Stadium. Christian Saile was amongst the substitutes, but despite his significant impact on recent games from the bench, he went unused by full-time.
Downs go narrow, Sailor returns
There may have been no Saile for the Soweto giants, but there was a Sailor for the Brazilians. Khuliso Mudau returned after three weeks out with a hamstring injury to start in his now-famous hybrid role on the right of the side's back four, or back three, depending on the situation. His return was a big boost because Grant Kekana was under observation after some discomfort following the midweek win against Polokwane City. The rest of the team saw no real surprises. Neo Maema was preferred to both Lesiba Nku and Junior Mendieta, whilst Peter Shalulile remained out injured. With other forward options missing, such as Maseko, Abubeker Nasir and Thapelo Morena, there were not as many alternatives as we've become accustomed to from a deep Sundowns squad. Probably the most interesting selection tactically was the roles of Aubrey Modiba and Maema. More on that later.
Amakhosi struggle in first half… again!
For at least the fifth time this season, Molefi Ntseki's charges made a really slow start to the fixture. Prior to facing the Chloorkop-based outfit in August, Mokwena called them a conservative team who prefer to sit off and observe what the opponents are doing in the early part of games. If we look at their slow opening half against Chippa United on the opening day and then having 26% possession and zero shots away at Downs in the first half of their Round 2 meeting, those comments have some truth to them. In fact, even in the midweek win away at Stellies, Chiefs had one shot in the whole first stanza, whilst their opponents had nine attempts. In the 3-0 win over AmaZulu FC, they had one shot on target in the first period, which was Pule Mmodi's early goal. It was the same story at FNB Stadium as they played very much like the underdogs – having almost no possession and not testing Ronwen Williams at all. At some point, sleepwalking into fixtures is going to see them 2-0 or 3-0 down by half-time with too much of a mountain to climb in the second stanza.
Brazilians limited to long shots, transition moments
To be fair to Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns were hardly breaking the door down. Whilst the visitors were slicker, more controlled and certainly dominant, most of their chances came from long-distance shots or fast attacking on turnovers. Downs' shape was quite narrow without Maseko or Nku in the XI and Modiba playing as a left-sided number eight. Maema was often tasked with moving out to the left, but he is not a winger and wasn't expected to play like one. We would usually have expected Modiba to be a tad wider like winger and Maema as the left-sided eight/10. If we look at the Downs chances in that first half, many came from Amakhosi's poor play when winning the ball or building up. They often gave it straight back either due to errors or counter-pressing, or they played directly into Masandawana's pressing traps. The first quite good chance was Lucas Ribeiro's attempted chip over Brandon Petersen. That opportunity arose from Tebogo Potsane being crunched by Abdelmounaim Boutouil in the Chiefs right half-space. The Soweto giants were then asleep to a quick freekick and that led to the opening. The other good Sundowns opening before the break came from sloppy Chiefs play in the middle third. They won the ball, but Mduduzi Mdantsane gave it away carelessly when he faced counter-pressing. Some slick combination play from Maema, Marcelo Allende and Ribeiro followed, with the latter's potent long shot being pushed to safety by Amakhosi's captain. Ntseki said exactly this at fulltime, that his side were purely in defensive mentality and could quickly change mindset to attacking or even consolidating possession. The mentor commented, "We had a situation where when we were defending, we were thinking about defending instead of defending and creating options when we regain possession. That's what we corrected at half-time, where we said let's have confidence on the ball, let's also make them work for the ball instead of losing it and giving the ball back to them."
Quality drop without 'Sha-Sha' and 'Mshishi'
Despite all the Sundowns possession and territory, it felt a tad toothless without Shalulile. To make matters worse, Themba Zwane had to go off early on after a cut to the face. Whilst there is strength in depth at the Chloorkop-based club, these are the two best attacking players we're talking about! Also, the Namibian loves scoring and making goals against Chiefs. When he reached 100 goals for the Brazilians back in April, no team had felt his wrath more often than Amakhosi (seven goals). We can remember him scoring in a 3-0 thrashing of the Glamour Boys and a 4-0 destruction of them in August 2022. His two most recent games in the league against Chiefs have seen him assist goals and also spend time playing on the wing for his defensive nous. The only time in the last eight meetings where the Soweto giants have beaten Downs came when Shalulile wasn't playing. He is their tormentor-in-chief, so to speak! Zwane's loss was massive too and Nku didn't manage to have much impact after coming on. The injury pushed Ribeiro into a more central role and there wasn't the same 'tight spaces' ability without both on the pitch. As coach 'Mlungisi' said, "Losing him was a big blow and we're literally down to the bare bones in the attacking department with the strikers and we have to make do with what we have. Mshishi was playing in a 10, nine position, where we don't have Nasir, we don't have Peter, we don't have Thapelo Morena, we don't have Thapelo Maseko, so you can understand what it does." Without doubt, that slight drop in star quality saw Downs create a bit less than you would usually expect from them.
Du Preez Mmodi quiet, Gonzalez debuts
Coming into this match, Chiefs supporters would have been optimistic of an attacking performance if we consider the great recent form of Ashley Du Preez and Mmodi. Both have been firing of late and have the pace and dribbling ability respectively to cause issues. Instead, we barely saw the duo. In the first half, the former Golden Arrows winger was too isolated and had no one to link up with. Hlanti was often playing 20 yards in off the touchline to block the space of Allende and Ribeiro, so he could never really combine with Mmodi. With Mdantsane having such an off game, it meant a lack of service for Du Preez. Mudau's return was timely to keep Mmodi quiet, but he also defends his right channel, where Du Preez gets most of his joy, expertly. At half-time, we saw a change of formation by Ntseki, hooking off Mdantsane. Instead of going for Mduduzi Shabalala, George Matlou or Saile, it was a debut for towering marksman Jasond Gonzalez. He went to number nine with Du Preez as the number 10, hardly a role that suits him. When defending, both Mmodi and Potsane were dragged very narrow to compress the centre and it meant there was no width as an out-ball. Gonzalez didn't have much impact and, in fact, he was moved to the right wing after the goal. When Terrence Mashego came on for Sundowns and played very high up, the Colombian found himself as an auxiliary right back at times.
Goal against the run of play
Before a deeper look at how Amakhosi took the lead, we should acknowledge that it came completely against the run of play. The Brazilians had started the second half really well with Nku putting a chance wide, albeit from a slightly offside position. That opportunity had come from Kwinika twice standing off Modiba instead of getting tight and Ribeiro showing his intelligence to receive outside Chiefs' double pivot as Castillo was too aggressive and Yusuf Maart could not block the remaining space in that 'zone 14' outside the area. Soon after that, Ribeiro again showed brilliant touches around the box, wriggling away from Given Msimango. It led to Maema striking a shot, which Thatayaone Ditlhokwe blocked well. The Soweto giants are throwing themselves bravely at shots this season and then Petersen also made several fine saves in this match, as he did in the league meeting. At the time of going 1-0 up, it was 65% Sundowns possession up to that point. That number only increased once they were trailing.
How the goals were scored/conceded
Chiefs' goal: Edson Castillo (60:30)
This was a goal made in Venezuela. By that, we mean that Castillo both started and finished the move! He gets turned on the left, near the halfway line. Sundowns have squeezed over to that flank as their narrow midfield diamond/box's pressing demands. Allende was maybe a little slow to close down the 29-year-old and the Amakhosi midfielder ignores easy squares options and plays a high risk, high reward pass into Du Preez's feet between the lines. Usually, Downs would be snapping at the ex-Stellies man's heels and intercepting that pass. However, halftime sub Gonzalez is 'pinning' Mothobi Mvala, whilst Potsane is high up on the right to keep Boutouil honest. The Moroccan fullback/side centre-back then makes the call to engage Kwinika in quite a deep position. There was no real threat at that time, but leaving his space allows a pass for Potsane, forces Modiba to vacate the middle and eventually gives Du Preez room to channel his inner David Beckham or Kevin De Bruyne. In the box itself, Rivaldo Coetzee is further right than Mudau when Castillo plays the original pass and he never recovers inside of his fullback. Mudau is clearly seen motioning for 'Riva' to pick up Castillo's run. He doesn't get tight enough, but to be fair, the cross is exquisite and the header is excellent too. Castillo plays the key pass and 15 seconds later he has covered 40 yards to score the opening goal. That sort of physicality, aerial ability and engine has added so much to Chiefs this season!
Sundowns' goal: Khuliso Mudau (92:15)
This goal had some similarities to the Orlando Pirates goal by Sandile Mthethwa in last season's Nedbank Cup semi-final. Besides the fact that it came in a match just one stage short of a cup final, it also resulted from a right-footed cross from a narrow left-sided position and led to a header towards the back post. Many supporters have laid the blame for both goals at the door of Hlanti. What differed on this goal is that the Bucs one came from the second phase of a corner kick. That means that a lot of big men were forward for Jose Riveiro's men and there were nine Amakhosi players in the box to defend the situation initially. The Sundowns goal isn't as a result of a set-piece and there is frankly not much aerial threat for Chiefs to be afraid of. On that day, Mthethwa got between Edmilson Dove and Hlanti. The responsibility for the goal last Saturday falls squarely on Hlanti, unfortunately. Some have said Castillo should have closed down Mendieta more quickly, but he can't sell himself and Chiefs should be able to defend crosses with their extra inches in the box. Before the cross is even delivered, Maart is motioning for his left back to pick up Mudau with his arm pointing at the eventual goalscorer. The warning is not heeded and it's a free run and a free header. The cross is sublime and the header is from about 10 yards out, a very difficult skill. We should probably give as much credit to the scorer and assist provider as we apportion blame to Hlanti.
Mokwena's subs save the day!
When we look back at this twolegged tie in a month's time, the key moment could be the triple substitution made in the 76th minute by the Chloorkop-based side. Mokwena acted decisively and took off Coetzee, Modiba and Boutouil for Bathusi Aubaas, Mashego and Siyabonga Mabena. The latter trio have not had much action this season (or last term for that matter, in the case of Mashego). Not many coaches would introduce a 16-year-old in a cup semi-final either. And yet, they came on and did a sterling job. These changes made a massive difference as it meant a completely new shape. Aubaas replaced Coetzee at centre-back, but he wasn't tasked with stepping into midfield. The coach explained simply, "Aubaas, we needed his legs and to push the line higher." Mashego and Mudau played as more conventional fullbacks but with incredible attacking freedom to be high and wide, and even to drift into the box. Even just a minute after the changes, we saw Mudau and Mashego linking up near the left corner flag! Chiefs were warned about how much offensive license the duo were being given. Mabena was used in a narrow right-sided position and gave some questions for Hlanti to answer. The changes also meant Allende playing deeper and getting more touches, whilst the same applied to Mendieta, who could drop deep and then assisted the equaliser with a sublime in-swinging cross from the left half-space. Not many of the post-match questions from the media centred around this brilliant tactical tweak despite it giving totally new headaches to Chiefs and leading directly to the late goal.
Summary match stats – Justice was done
KAIZER CHIEFS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS
1 Goals 1
3 Shots 16
1 Shots on Target 5
16 Fouls Committed 13
0 Corners 4
29% Possession 71%
To be perfectly blunt, a Sundowns defeat would have been a miscarriage of justice. Yes, they didn't create as many clear-cut chances as they usually do, but they were still much the better team. They were the ones trying to take the initiative and that's reflected in the crazy 71% possession stat for the Brazilians compared to 29% for the Glamour Boys. The home side had just three shots in the match, with the goal being their only attempt on target. Even a draw feels like a bit of a burglary from the fixture!
Some will point to Modiba's challenge on Mmodi not prompting a second yellow card as being a key moment. Mokwena was upset with some of the fouls on his players too, although his side managed to commit 13 fouls from the 29% ball possession afforded to Amakhosi. In the end, maybe only Ribeiro of the dozen or so attacking players utilised on the day really brought his A-game. Let's hope for more goals and more big chances on show in the second leg. For now, Sundowns can rest during the FIFA break knowing they avoided having some serious regrets at full-time. It is, instead, Chiefs who will have two weeks to stew over what could have been.
