‘We could have scored seven or eight goals,’ Mngqithi ‘unhappy’ after Sundowns thrash Swallows

It turns out four goals are not enough to please Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi. 

The Brazilians thrashed Eswatini minnows Mbabane Swallows 4-0 through goals by Mosa Lebusa, Iqraam Rayners and a brace from Lucas Ribeiro in the first leg of their Champions League final preliminary round clash at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday night. 

Sundowns, who scored their first goals after they fired blanks in MTN8 matches against Polokwane City and Stellenbosch FC, are now effectively guaranteed to progress to the group stages when they host the second leg on Saturday, also at Lucas Moripe Stadium. 

Swallows played their first leg home game in Pretoria due to their ground not passing Confederation of African Football standards.

“I was happy with scoring four goals, to be honest, but I am still unhappy because we got a lot of other chances that we should have scored but we didn’t take them,” Mngqithi said on his team’s performance. 

“In my space I prefer that we try to improve our movements and schemes in the attacking third, but when we improve on that it must also result in goals being scored.

“In the games we played against Polokwane City and Stellenbosch my complaint was not that we were not creating chances, but we were not finishing the chances we got.” 

Sundowns went to the break in full control of the game with a 3-0 lead after first-half goals from Ribeiro, Lebusa and Rayners, but they only added one in the second half when the Brazilian attacker registered his brace. 

“We could have scored seven or eight goals had we taken our chances because we got in good positions and we nullified the possibility of conceding from the opponents,” Mngqithi said. 

“When you don’t take your chances, it can easily result in it being 1-0 for the opponents from the few counterattacks they got in the later stages. I still believe the chances we got were too many for us to have been able to get as many goals as possible. 

“You will forgive me for being unhappy at not having scored as many goals as I thought we deserved. It was the same story when we played against Polokwane City where I thought we should have scored four to five goals in the first 30 minutes. 

“When it comes out at the end of the game and you win with an own goal, everybody starts to talk about not scoring and it looks like you did not perform well. But the truth of the matter is the game could have been put away as soon as possible. 

“We still have to improve on that aspect of scoring because sometimes in the Champions League you don’t get many chances to score.” 

Swallows coach Caleb Ngwenya said the logistics behind the scenes of playing a home game away took it toll on his players. 

Swallows return home on Sunday and return to South Africa on Wednesday to prepare for the second leg and Ngwenya said it would have been better to stay in Pretoria until the match on the weekend. 

“It is a predicament we find ourselves in as a team and as a country because we don’t have stadiums that are compliant with Caf standards. It is difficult for the boys but we take it in our stride because this is the situation we find ourselves in and there is nothing we can do. 

“We can only hope to learn from this for individual players to grow and [to grow] as a team.”