Pitso Mosimane was full of praise for goalkeeper Denis Onyango and his defenders after Mamelodi Sundowns drew goalless with Rayon Sport in Kigali.
The former African champions missed a couple of opportunities but overall, the Rwanda outfit were the better side and should have won but for Onyango and his centre backs.
“It was an open game, which is how I expect Rayon Sports to play. They are a good playing team,” Mosimane said before he picked out the team’s most important players on the day.
I think my two centre-backs (Wayne Arendse and Ricardo Nascimento) and the goalkeeper (Denis Onyango) played well to defend against the fast strikers and fast attack of Rayon. I am happy we did not concede a goal, so from my side we will see in the second leg.
The outspoken tactician however said his boys relaxed after a good start and invited pressure from Ivan Minnaert side that upped their game.
I was not happy with my team in the first half. They started to relax thinking that it was going to be easy but it did not turn out like that because the opponents raised the standards.
Mosimane was however not happy with Rayon Sport after his team failed to trained on the match day venue on the eve of the game as per CAF rules.
Amahoro lights went off on Tuesday as Sundowns warmed up prompting Mosimane to advise Rwanda to style up although he added that can’t be used as an excuse for the draw.
“We don’t like to make excuses. Yesterday (Tuesday) we did not train at all. It’s not nice, it’s not good for and it’s not good for football,” an angry Mosimane stressed.
“You need to give the opponent a chance to train because imagine if you come to my country and I do the same. I am not saying you put the lights off, but imagine if you have your last training session and the lights are off. What are you going to say about me? So it’s not good for football. You need to get rid of these things.
But we have been in the Champions League for a long time and we don’t care about those things. It does not matter, just fix your house.”
It was the 50th game for the gaffer in charge on the continent and his side will host the return leg on March 18 with the winner going to the group stages of the lucrative competition.