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Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns suffered their third defeat of the season as they were beaten 2-0 by Ajax Cape Town in an Absa Premiership encounter at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Two quickfire goals courtesy of Thabo Mosadi and Ndiviwe Mdabuka during the second-half secured the three points for the Urban Warriors and left Masandawana in eighth place on the standings, with 13 points from seven games.
Sundowns coach, Pitso Mosimane though said in a post-match press conference that he always expected a tough encounter against Ajax while admitting that his players were focused on next month's FIFA Club World Cup.
"You can't have everything, you can't have your cake and eat it, you're going to lose to Ajax and there's a team called Bloemfontein Celtic who beat us every time," Mosimane said.
"It's okay, we can't get 100% and win all our games, you have to provide some space for setbacks or if I wanted to win everything at all costs I'd put the CBD in from the first minute my friend.
"But I'm going to Japan and you have to decide, do we want this or that (Club World Cup) also four out of five of my players are nominated for African and PSL Player of the Year, they are in another space and I have to give them that space because they deserve it.
"The boys are thinking different, we're all human beings, I'm also a human being I am looking towards next week but have to face Ajax now."
One does have to question though if the Sundowns players need to learn a ruthless winning mentality under Mosimane akin to Alex Ferguson's Manchester United teams who would achieve an era of success by always looking forward to win the next league trophy and not bask too much in their achievements.
Despite having a huge squad of highly-paid players overflowing with quality, Mosimane still found reason to bemoan the many injuries that his side were facing.
"Anthony Laffor had to be substituted because he had a groin, Khama (Billiat) also came back from a groin, Keagan (Dolly) also got his first 45 minutes because he had shin splints which is a sign of fatigue.
"Kennedy (Mweene) also has a pulled muscle on his side and if you remember (Tebogo) Langerman came back from Bafana Bafana injured so we are aware of this and you can't have your cake and eat it, as we can't play football for 15 months and expect that everyone should be fit, but we can't complain," he said.
The Brazilians next face Free State Stars on Saturday with the kick off at 15:30 while Ajax Cape Town are looking to continue their winning momentum against Golden Arrows (kick off is at 20:30).
