The Brazilians suffered back-to-back defeats against Stellenbosch over two legs and were bundled out of the tournament at the semi-final stage.
The final nail in their yellow coffin came at the Moses Mabhida Stadium via a Bradley Mojela goal as Stellies moved on to face defending champions Orlando Pirates in the October 5 final.
The Wafa Wafa competition has harboured nightmares for Sundowns in the past despite their immense dominance of South African football.
The Chloorkop-based club has only won the competition once under the current sponsors, penalty heroics by Dennis Onyango doing the business for them in the 2021/2022 season.
𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟-𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘! – We are through to the #MTN8 final 🙌🤩
Stellenbosch 1️⃣–0️⃣ Sundowns (2-0) pic.twitter.com/2cAjRMoYOf
Since then, Sundowns have suffered back-to-back losses against Pirates in the competition before their latest stumble against Stellies.
“I’m not panicking at this stage because I know with the MTN8, in all the years I’ve been at this club, I don’t know what happens in the early stages of the season, we always struggle sometimes and at this stage it’s worse because most of your key players are the ones not hitting the top gear,” he explained.
“For me, I think it’s not bleak but it’s just unfortunate because you don’t want to bomb out of a cup in the way that we did.”
Mngqithi and his assistants Steve Komphela and Romain Folz came into the job already under great pressure after the club let go of head coach Rulani Mokwena at the end of last season. He is now coach of Wydad Athletic.
Having won the league title and the African Football League (AFL), many were surprised to see the departure of Mokwena but the club deemed his achievements to be sub-par.
The onus has now been placed on Mngqithi and Co to not only capture the three domestic cups the club lost last season but also to win a second CAF Champions League trophy for Sundowns.
Kobamelo Kodisang spoke to us after the full-time whistle at Moses Mabhida stadium to give his thoughts on the match! 🗣#Sundowns #MTN8 #RabatsenaGape pic.twitter.com/76De5fvGyQ
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) September 2, 2024
The last time Mngqithi took charge of Sundowns and was eliminated from the MTN8, he was pushed aside and named ‘senior coach’ as Mokwena took over the reins.
There have been suggestions that a similar occurrence might be on the horizon but Mngqithi believes that their exit from the competition is not a reflection of how his team is progressing.
He attributed their loss to an unusual bluntness in front of goal after having threatened both Polokwane City and Stellenbosch in the three competitive games they’ve played so far.
“I don’t think there’s any train smash at Sundowns, it’s only normal not to score. If you look at the games that we’ve played, you look at possession, you look at most of the numbers and the metrics of the game, they will tell you that these people are just a goal away from getting a result,” he said.
“But when you don’t score your goals or the chances that you get in front, it looks bad but when you look at the numbers and metrics of our games against Stellenbosch in the past, you might be surprised that now we are doing better than before but we’re not scoring as many chances.”