Mokwena unhappy with Orlando pitch, but praises ‘dominant’ Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena says the pitch at Orlando Stadium was not in a good state and that destabilised their play in some moments of their DStv Premiership match against Orlando Pirates on Wednesday.

Mokwena revealed that he even spoke about the condition of the pitch with Buccaneers coach Jose Riveiro before the start of the match, and he was also not happy.

Sundowns went on to win DStv Premiership match 1-0, courtesy of a goal from the spot by Lucas Ribeiro.

“It was a difficult game for two good teams, a very well coached opposition. We also played on a difficult pitch. We had a bit of a joke with the coach (Jose Riveiro) before, we have both seen the pitch in a better state,” said the Brazilians coach.

“It was very difficult for the rhythm (of the game) and the extra pass in some moments because the ball held up a little and the tempo suffered a bit. That affected our rhythm at times.”

Despite the complaints about the field, Mokwena believes his side had a very good start to the match.

But he thinks his players could have done better in front of goal, especially having made a number of attacks that put Bucs defence under pressure.

And he expected the Soweto giants to come back stronger in the second half.

“We had a good start. We were dominant and tactically I think we were very good. We dealt very well with the defensive structure to deal with counter-attacks. And we never suffered any real situations or threats at goal apart from that build-up mistake where Ronwen Williams had to come out and help us out in the first half,” he continued.

“We also had a couple of transitions where we had numerical superiority and we were let down by wrong decisions. In the second half, we expected the opposition to react and they reacted. They induced a little bit more pressure and our line had to drop slightly.”

With the win, Sundowns have now recorded seven victories in their opening seven matches