A weakened Mamelodi Sundowns was knocked out of the Carling Knockout Cup in the first round by a more determined TS Galaxy side via penalty shoot-outs at the Mbombela Stadium on Wednesday night. After the two clubs played to a 2-2 draw after full-time, Galaxy won the lottery of penalties with a 5-4 scoreline.
While the match was very entertaining, with action swinging from one goalpost to the other, the game will sadly be remembered for a rough, dangerous tackle that may have prematurely ended Bernard “Hond” Parker’s career. Sundowns midfielder Bongani Zungu lunged, completely missed the ball and hacked Parker’s shin which suffered what looked like a clean break. It was horrific to see, and Parker was stretchered off and taken to hospital. At his age, 37, he will be very luck to recuperate and to return onto the field and continue to play.
Sundowns were without seven of the star players who travelled to Abidjan, Ivory Coast with Bafana Bafana. The likes of Ronwen Williams, Mothobi Mvala, Teboho Mokoena, Aubrey Modiba, Themba Zwane, Khuliso Mudau and Grant Kekana were not available for the match and they arrived back at the OR Tambo International Airport in the early hours of Thursday morning.
And as a result, the DStv Premiership champions were a bit inferior and lacked that killer punch that has left many of their opponents on the canvas and out for the count. But Galaxy did not care about Downs’ struggles as they ran riot and opened a 2-0 lead very early in the first half.
Zungu was having a nightmare in Mbombela and he collided with his goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse as they allowed a cross from Higor Vidal to reach Sphiwe Mahlangu who scrambled the ball into the net. A few minutes later, captain Mlungisi Mbunjani bullied Zungu when headed the ball into the net to make it 2-0, leaving the Downs man sprawled on the turf.
Sundowns fought back in the second half and Marcello Allende reduced the deficit to 2-1 with an impressive grass-cutter. Out of favour Gaston Sirino equalised with the last kick of the match from a corner kick and took the match to extra-time.
It was down to penalties and Brian Onyango and Lesiba Nku missed their kicks for Sundowns. Sirino, Allende, Sphelele Mkhulise and Keabetswe Ramotsei converted from the spot. For Galaxy, Mbunjani, Kganyana Letsoenyo, Pogiso Sanoka, Marks Munyai and Samir Nurkovic scored while Vladimir Siladi’s effort went wide.
