Mamelodi Sundowns Time-Wasting Annoys Gianni Infantino & Patrice Motsepe

There is wasting time, and then there is wasting time. Mamelodi Sundowns players took gamesmanship to a new low (or high however you might look at it) at the end of the inaugural African Football League final's second leg against Wydad Casablanca.

With the score sitting at 2-0 in the home team's favour at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Tshwane - 3-2 on aggregate - the Brazilians decided to give the Moroccans a taste of some traditional North African medicine. Several players decided to waste time in pitifully attempting to take a freekick near the sideline in the visitors' half of the field.

It took several crucial seconds that ebbed away before the referee, the linesman and the Wydad players to cotton on to what was happening, before they all took some form of action. The referee flashed yellow cards to the Sundowns players dawdling around the ball, before these ones stepped away from it, allowing their other sharp teammates to step up and also stuff around. Five yellow cards were eventually shown, with two minutes having been wasted.

Earlier, it was mentioned how the Moroccans received a dose of their own medicine, and we stand by this. Feigning injuries and taking time to take freekicks, goal-kicks and other restarts - not forgetting taking an eternity to get off the field for a substitution - is as synonymous with North African football as flares in the crowd. 

In the suites, CAF president Patrice Motsepe and his FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino were seen shaking their heads with disapproval and disappointment. Ironically, Motsepe's son Tlhopie took over as Sundowns' chairman when his father departed for Cairo to become the big don dada at African football's governing body.

Well done to head coach Rhulani Mokwena and his players for spotting an opportunity and exploiting it.

You just hate to see it. 🤣😂