Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies head coach Jerry Tshabalala has admitted his side were pushed to the limit by Simba Queens after a 1-0 victory over the East Africans at Stade Moulay Hassan in Rabat.
The South Africans continued their impressive run in the race to their title defence, with a semi-final victory over the Tanzanians thanks to Boitumelo Rabale’s lone effort on Wednesday (9 November 2022).
The 42-year-old shared his thoughts on the hard-fought triumph over Charles Lukula’s side after guiding his side to their second successive CAF Women’s Champions League final.
“Credit must go to Simba, they ensured that they were working better than us. I am sure it will be my players thinking, it was going to be a walk in the park, but we got the shock of our lives,” Tshabalala told CAFOnline.com.
“Believe me, Simba pushed us to the limit where we thought we were going to extra time and we wanted to make changes. There are a lot of factors, but tactically I think the Simba coach got it right, there were three players on our left [number 4,5 and 17]. You could tell that they were closing up so no one would break their lines. Vivian [Corazone] dominated my team. I saw that and quickly make a change, and bring in a defender with a bit of strength, I think tactically we got it wrong first half, and at some point, we were rushing.”
“We were a team capable of scoring, we thought it was going to be an easy one, to score as quickly as possible. When we plan to score, we seem not to get it. But in the second half, I said when we play our game, we stick to our game, I knew the high pressure of Simba wasn’t going to last 90 minutes. They pressed very hard, you could tell the last 20 minutes they looked tired. They always say games are your teacher, they will teach you a lot of things. I enjoyed the game and I learnt a lot about the game. A lot I can take back home, other teams use different systems, so great for me as a coach.”
In 2021, Sundowns were forced to a 0-0 draw with the Morrocans at the group stage, and to extend their unbeaten streak, Tshabalala is relishing the prospect of adding ASFAR to their list of defeated teams when they meet in the final this time.
“I knew at some point that this question was coming. I will be happy if I could play ASFAR in the finals, I’ve got my reasons,” he admitted.
“I have played Bayelsa, it will be nice being a champion, beating all five top teams in the tournament. In 2021, we played ASFAR, the only two teams we didn’t play, so I wouldn’t want to play Bayelsa again. I would love to have ASFAR in the final.”
Source: CAFOnline.com
