In the midst of a very heavy fixture schedule, extra time and penalties in Sunday’s Nedbank Cup semi-final against TTM were a worst-case scenario for Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi.
It was a match which will largely be remembered for the heroics of TTM goalkeeper Washington Arubi, who made a string of outstanding saves in regulation and extra time, before proving decisive in the penalty shoot-out by saving Hlompho Kekana’s spot-kick as the Limpopo side won 6-5 after a goalless 120 minutes.
“In football, you must always accept that some of these things happen. We lost the game, but I believe we played very well, [well enough] to be able to win it.