One cup after spending millions no failure for Sundowns

Some view Mamelodi Sundowns winning only the league title, when they spent millions to improve their already star-studded squad, as a failure.

Sundowns proved peerless again in the league, breaking a number of records en route to sealing a sixth successive title. Despite retaining the league title, Sundowns endured yet another disappointing campaign in what has always been their ultimate ambition, the CAF Champions League, crashing out in the semi-finals at the hands of reigning champions Wydad Casablanca at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. 

Downs also couldn’t win the two domestic cups on offer in the form of the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup – surrendering them after clinching them last season. This is seen by many as punching below their weight, given they forked out a fortune in bringing in the likes of Marcelo Allende, who’s said to have cost them about R51m.

Former club defender Wayne Arendse, who played a crucial role when Sundowns last won the Champions League in 2016, has begged to differ with those who say the club had a bad season. Arendse has predicted that the Brazilians will clinch the Champions League in the not-so-distant future, feeling the finer details is what has been the difference between them and North African sides, who are dominant in the competition.

“I wouldn’t say this season was a failure for Sundowns because it’s a work in progress. The team is almost new, Guys like Ronwen [Williams], [Sipho] Mbule, Allende have just arrived. They can win everything next year because of the foundation they’ve laid this season. There’s really no need to panic, they really had a great season and improved from last season,” Arendse told Sowetan.

“I think they can win it [the Champions League] in the near future. Honestly I thought this was the year but you know... that’s North African teams for you, they hit you when you least expect it. It’s a difficult pill to swallow for them. It’s small details man, it’s your very small details like when you can’t breach defence like in open-play, try to use set-plays. Wydad were counting on set-pieces.”

The game ended 2-all but Sundowns bowed out because the first leg ended goalless.