Komphela urges Sundowns to remember their strength after Super Cup shock

Mamelodi Sundowns assistant coach Steve Komphela has reminded the club of its stature and resilience after the CAF Champions League winners suffered a surprise defeat by USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup at Loftus Versfeld.

Sundowns were expected to lift the trophy on home soil after winning the CAF Champions League, while USM Alger qualified for the continental fixture as CAF Confederation Cup champions. Instead, the Algerian side left South Africa with the title, leaving the Brazilians to reflect on a painful result in front of their supporters.

Komphela said the scale of Sundowns was highlighted by an unexpected exchange with one of USM Alger’s players immediately after the final whistle. Although celebrating victory, the player offered encouragement to his defeated opponents.

“It’s funny because as soon as the match came to an end, one of the USMA players came through and said something very strange; he said you guys are a big team, you will recover,” Komphela said.

The comment, he added, provided an important reminder of the club’s identity at a difficult moment.

“To me, that was profound. Sometimes in life we need reminders of who we are, and this is the one. Obviously, at Sundowns you would wish to win every trophy, but nobody has a God-given birthright to. We wanted to win it, but unfortunately it didn’t fall our way.”

The loss is a setback for a team accustomed to challenging for honours, but Komphela said Sundowns must not allow the disappointment to obscure the work still required in the present.

He recognised the hurt inside the dressing room and among the club’s supporters, while warning against becoming consumed by future challenges before dealing with the immediate consequences of the defeat.

“You don’t want to start throwing forward and then get paralysed by starting to look at things that are coming, but where we are at, we’re hurting, and for our supporters as well,” he added.

Komphela also acknowledged that the pre-match expectations had favoured Sundowns because of their status as African champions. On conventional football logic, the CAF Champions League winners would have been expected to defeat the CAF Confederation Cup holders.

However, he said the outcome of a match cannot always be determined by reputation or expectation.

“The fact that we’re Champions League winners, when we play other champions but, in the Confederation, logic or common sense, or expectation would be Champions League winner should win.

“But sometimes football is not like that. We regret the result, we wanted it different, but unfortunately it didn’t come our way and congratulations to the opponent.”