Tshabalala says Sundowns lacked hunger to defend CAF title

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies coach Jerry Tshabalala was left disappointed after his side was knocked out of the CAF Women’s Champions League on Saturday.

This comes after Edo Queens of Nigeria crushed Sundowns Ladies’ hopes of defending their title with a come from behind 2-1 victory at Stade El Arbi Zaouli.

READ: Sundowns Ladies bow out of Champions League

Speaking after the match, Tshabalala was not happy with his team’s performance in the match.

”A disappointing performance from the team. But I think in the first half we executed the plan very well. We praised them very high and didn’t allow them any space and we got a goal out of that plan. I think in the last 10 minutes of the first half, we took the foot off the pedal and gave them too much respect, we were no longer winning the second ball.

“Second half I spoke to the girls and said – don’t try to lose the ball as much as possible and the only way to do that is to play close to each other. I don’t think we created a lot of goal scoring opportunities but it was an intense game.”

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Tshabalala admitted that his side lacked hunger to defend their crown.

”To be honest, I don’t think we showed any hunger to say we want this more. If you come to the tournament and you start on a negative it becomes difficult to bounce back, but we tried to show character to bounce back in the second game. In the third game it wasn’t to be, the players gave it their all but we didn’t defend nicely as a team,” commented Tshabalala.

Edo Queens will face off against TP Mazembe, before a North African battle between hosts, AS FAR and FC Masar concludes the semi-finals to decide the finalists.

The semifinals will take place on Tuesday.