Sundowns star Morena reflects on painful Super Cup defeat

Mamelodi Sundowns winger Thapelo Morena has spoken out about the heartache of losing the CAF Super Cup final to USM Alger at their home stadium. The Brazilian side suffered a 3-1 defeat, extending a string of disappointing results in CAF competitions following their early exit from the Champions League. USM Alger took a 2-1 lead into the break before scoring a third goal to claim a significant victory, leaving Sundowns without a trophy.

The loss was a particularly tough blow for Miguel Cardoso’s team, who had hoped to bounce back from their continental misfortune by winning the Super Cup. Morena admitted that the result was a painful reminder of what they had been striving for, especially in front of their home crowd. “This is painful and I don’t know how to put it because it’s something that we wanted to redeem ourselves with and unfortunately today it didn’t happen,” Morena said after the match.

“There’s no lack of desire and like I said, if today was our day, then we could have taken the game in the first half.” The 33-year-old was substituted at halftime after missing a chance near the end of the first half. Morena believes that Sundowns’ inability to capitalize on their opportunities proved costly, as well as conceding goals from set pieces.

“I think the most important thing that we didn’t do was to convert the chances that we created,” he added. “Their early goal gave us a little bit of a wake-up call that we need to push more, but unfortunately, we conceded from a set piece after we equalized.” Morena is one of three players in Sundowns' current squad who were part of the team that won the CAF Super Cup in 2017, alongside Themba Zwane and Denis Onyango.

The defeat means that Masandawana have missed another chance to add continental silverware to their trophy collection. Questions will undoubtedly be raised about Cardoso’s future after another disappointing start to the season, despite their impressive run in the MTN8 tournament.