Sundowns’ Mvala delighted with clean sheet against Spurs

Man of the Match Mthobi Mvala was happy with Mamelodi Sundowns‘ defensive display in the narrow win against bottom side Cape Town Spurs.

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A controversial penalty that was converted by Lucas Ribeiro in the first half was enough to give the Brazilians a 1-0 win against a gutsy Urban Warriors outfit at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night.

Mvala and his partners in the Sundowns defence were kept busy by Spurs attackers like Ashley Cupido, Asanele Velebhayi and Luke Baartman and the Bafana Bafana defender admits that they had it tough game against Spurs.

Mvala applauded his teammates for sticking to the game plan and keeping a clean sheet in the match.

“It was a tough game against a team that is fighting for their lives in the league. They gave us a very good game. I’m impressed with the way we played as a team, we planned very well,” said Mvala, who was named Man of the Match after the game following his stellar performance at the back for Sundowns.

“We knew that they’re going to play the balls behind, so we needed to have a rest defence. Although they got away in the second half with a couple of balls behind us, we managed to keep a clean sheet.”

Mvala was making a return to the Sundowns starting line-up after missing the game against Young Africans due to an injury.

“I felt good because I’ve been working hard since I came back from injury. You know at Sundowns, we have a very good team at the back, we have the guys that are doing well, so today I got a chance and I took it with both hands,” commented Mvala.

Asked if playing alongside his Bafana Bafana centre back partner Grant Kekana made things easy for him, Mvala said: “Yeah, we understand each other very well, but it doesn’t matter who I was going to play with today (Tuesday). Whether it was Riva (Rivaldo Coetzee) or Brian Onyango, we were still going to do great work at the back. This is how we play, we train together, but I’ve been doing well with Grant. I’m just happy about how the team performed, it’s not about individuals,” commented Mvala.

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Mvala will be looking to keep another clean sheet and help Sundowns reach the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup when the Brazilians meet AmaTuks (University of Pretoria) in a quarterfinal clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Friday.