Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi lauded the man-of-the-match performance of central midfielder Andile Jali in the classy 3-0 MTN8 semifinal second leg victory over Golden Arrows at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday.
The 4-1 aggregate victory saw Sundowns advance to the MTN8 final where they will face either Swallows FC or Cape Town City, who do battle in the other semi-final second leg on Wednesday evening.
Jali was the conductor of the orchestra in the crushing win and has become one of the fulcrums of the side after struggling to break into the first team at the beginning of his Sundowns stay.
“AJ stood his ground, showed his experience,” Mngqithi said, “He was the captain of the team today and he did not disappoint. For him to get the Man of the Match award, it was worthwhile, we are happy with that.
“To be honest, it was not a very easy decision,” he added when asked why Jali was named captain for the night.
“We had many candidates for the captain’s armband but we felt we needed a soldier-like mentality today, somebody who could push the team because it was important for us to go into this match with an attitude to want to compete and win.
“There was no better person in that space to make sure that he galvanises the team, he gives the team the energy to push all the way and he did that very well, and we were very excited to see him perform the way he performed as a captain.
“In our team, we have too many people that have been captains. We considered Peter [Shalulile], we considered Mshishi [Themba Zwane], we considered [Hlompho] Kekana, we considered Rushine De Reuck, we considered [Thabiso] Kutumela.
“But, we felt AJ might be the right person in the right position to make sure that, in that area, he takes leadership, because it’s an area that we had lost Riva [Rivaldo Coetzee], who is always in that space, and we had Hash [Haashim Domingo], who is a youngster next to him, to make sure the team has balance in that space and I think he played very well.”
Sundowns will now meet either Cape Town City or Swallows FC in the final of this year’s competition, with their opponents set to be confirmed on Wednesday evening.
