Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns right-back Khuliso Mudau was named 'Man of the Match’, but that accolade could equally have gone to the Uruguayan midfielder Gastón Sirino who made an enormous impact in Saturday's Nedbank Cup final against Marumo Gallants.
Moments after referee Masixole Bambiso sounded the opening whistle, Sirino fired the opening salvo three minutes later, as his parting shot from range screamed past the opposition's posts.
Just past the half-hour mark, Sirino intervened with telling effect with a dashing run down the right flank, before laying on the scoring cross for Peter Shalulile.
The Namibian marksman Shalulile who operated as the side's lone striker in the 4-2-3-1 shook off his marker and despite losing his balance managed a shot which sailed into the Gallants' post. In terms of a rating, Shalulile followed closely behind Sirino and Mudau.
It was a masterstroke by the Sundowns technical team to include Sirino in the starting XI and bench a stalwart like Themba Zwane, who has proved his worth as a match-winner in the past.
Sirino's runs out wide on occasions pulled the opposition's midfield defence out of shape. Otherwise, Gallants' 4-4-2 formation proved mostly reliable, except when there were lapses of concentration, which happened when substitute Zwane collected a turn-over and set up substitute Thapelo Morena for the match decider late in extra time.
With this performance, Sirino is likely to remain with Sundowns after an unsettled season. At one time he expressed the wish to join Pitso Mosimane at Al Ahly but after this display, he is likely to enjoy two more seasons at the club.
Right-back Mudau who is used as a midfielder when Sundowns employ a 3-4-1-2 formation rather than Saturday's 3-4-2-1 was, like Sirino not guaranteed a run-on berth. However, he produced a sterling performance to repay the faith shown in him. He waged attacks from deep options and sent in a few promising feeds into the striking zone.
He had a few interesting duels with Gallants midfielder Joseph Molangoane who, unless kept on a tight rein, can cause havoc in the striking zone with defence-splitting feeds.
Credit must be given to the Sundowns technical staff for the way they planned their replacements. Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi said before the match they had been alerted that several players were battling with the heavy workload in recent weeks. As a result, they felt to need to keep firing power in reserve on the substitutes' bench.
Mngqithi said they were warned that several players could suffer cramps later in the match and that was exactly what happened.
Sirino made way for Zwane just after the hour mark, and Mudau made way for Slovakian Pavol Šafranko in the second half of extra time. Morena, who netted the match-winner, joined the fray at the end of extra time in place of Lebohang Maboe.
Sundowns left-back Lyle Lakay was a tad disappointing with his poor deliveries from close-in set-pieces. His set-piece work from free-kicks and corners have been a strong feature of the team's all-conquering performances this season. He did, howeve,r succeed with his primary function is defence and thwarted attacks with a fair degree of success.
IOL Sport