Sixth DStv Premiership title in a row, won in emphatic fashion with seven matches to go, countless league records broken, and there is more...
Just for good measure, added to that is a decent, unbeaten CAF Champions League run, which ended against the defending champions, Wydad AC on away goals rule. Painful experience, but it is what it is. Rules are rules, no matter how outdated they are.
We were not bad when it comes individual awards as well, with our midfield general, Teboho Mokoena scooping both the PSL Midfielder of the Season, and Footballer of the Season Awards.
Ronwen Williams was head and shoulders above the rest of the goalkeepers in the league, his award was well deserved.
What can one say about Peter Shalulile, except that he did it again.
Khuliso Mudau is nothing but class, a well earned Defender of the Season Award.
The young Cassius Mailula gave us joy, and he was duly rewarded with his Young Footballer of the Season Award.
And than there is our coach, the one and only Rulani Mokwena, Coach of the Season Award deserved? Look at his record, it screams a BIG YES!!
All in all, it has been a good season, we played some wonderful football, and enjoyed some happy moments.
Heart breaks were there too.
Being knocked out of the MTN8 by eventual winners Orlando Pirates, was a bitter pill to swallow.
Our loss to Stellenbosch FC in the Nedbank Cup semi-finals was disappointing. But knowing that we can't win them all, we took the defeats with a pinch of salt, and moved on.
We have won everything there is to win in the local scene, and we are grateful to the players, the technical team, and the entire management.
The journey has been good, but it can be great!
We have bigger fish to fry, the biggest of them all being the CAF Champions League.
We have proven ourselves to be more than capable of lifting the title for the second time. We have made Africa sit up and take notice with our cutting edge possession football. Some top coaches have called us the best team in Africa at the moment, and truly speaking, we are the best.
Now all that is left is to cross that thin, but troublesome line between being good and being great.
And to cross that line, we need to remember the lessons learned from the season that has just ended.
One of them, a truly valuable lesson being, as Wydad coach, Sven Vandenbroeck said:
"Football in Northern (African) countries, it’s the number one sport. Here, I think there are other sports that are a little bit bigger than football. And then you see, ‘Ah we’re 1-0 up, we have what we want’, so they (the supporters) go quiet. I think it’s a massive difference. It helped us gain confidence because the support was not intimidating to us. I think it’s culture maybe a little bit, but I can’t talk about it too much because our fans are great and they have to stay great. There will be 60 000 or 70 000 in Casablanca for the second leg in the final to support us."
This is one important lesson that as The Yellow Nation, we cannot afford to forget, to stay behind the team in full voice for the whole 90 minutes, whether we are winning or losing.
We are the twelfth player, right? Let us play our rule till the fat lady sings.
Moving on, perhaps, the technical team will have to zoom in on our squad and check if we really have enough big game players.
I am talking about players who can stomach the pressure that comes with winning a tournament like the CAFCL, not the Nedbank Cup, not the MTN8 or the DStv Premiership, but the CAFCL.
But that is a topic for another day.
We are Mamelodi Sundowns, and this Sandawana is signing out for now, till next time!
