“You feel like the ground should open and swallow you!”
“You feel like the ground should open and swallow you!”
With that comment, Mosa Lebusa relived his costly mistake from Mamelodi Sundowns’ trip to Kinshasa where they faced AS Maniema Union in the first leg of their CAF Champions League group stages encounter in the DRC.
Downs had taken the lead through Themba Zwane’s spot kick when Lebusa appeared to momentarily lose concentration and send a stray back pass to goalkeeper Denis Onyango, which was intercepted by Kitwa Kolowa to equalize.
The defender admitted that he was “indecisive” in the moment, something he’s had to address ahead of the second leg on Sunday.
“We always try to have patient build-ups, and I think I was caught being indecisive – I looked back, then forward, tried to buy time for our midfielders to avail themselves, but nobody was availing. At the very last second I was trying to pass the goalkeeper with my other (weaker) foot,” Lebusa told the media.
“As a player, when it comes to such moments, you feel like the ground should open and swallow you. The game had just started, and we knew we had to dig deep from there – I also had to be bigger than my mistake after a foul like that.”
Lebusa said Union were aggressive in their own backyard in the DRC, but had doubts on whether they will be as brazen despite the 2-2 draw suggesting they will need to go all out to score for them to qualify for the group stages.
“We will need to be aware of such on Sunday, to minimise our mistakes and make sure that we don’t give them a chance around the box,” he said.
“They really aren’t a bad side. I think out wide they have individuals who are quite direct to get the cross in. But when you close them down, they can’t play. I would like to see if they will try do it here at home – the pitch is bigger and it’s not artificial.”
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