Johannesburg - Pitso Mosimane should have known better than to fall head-first into a trap meticulously set up by Ghanaian side Medeama SC in their CAF Confederation Cup second-leg play-off out in Sekodi on Wednesday night.
I followed the blow-by-blow updates of the encounter on social media to see if Mamelodi Sundowns would defend their 3-1 advantage from the first leg played in Atteridgeville a little over a week ago.
The match ended 2-0 to the hosts, meaning Medeama had overturned the lead and qualified for the group stages of the competition thanks to the away goals rule.
Surely the Brazilians were robbed, cheated and forced to play outside their comfort zone if the drama of the reports online were anything to go by.
I felt I had enough reason to believe Fair Play was not the order of the day in a game where the home side broke the deadlock through a first-half penalty and Sundowns' goalkeeper Denis Onyango was sent for an early shower in the second.
After all, most of us had seen the Ghanaians in action in the first leg and they looked an average side to be honest, even though Sundowns, who conceded in the first minute in that game, only found an equaliser in the 80th minute and added two more with very little time left on the clock.
The sleep-inducing first half aside, it was almost a routine win for the South African Premier League champions. Very few people would have stopped to consider that they could fluff it in the second leg.
But colleague Njabulo Ngidi, who travelled with coach Mosimane’s team to Ghana, painted a different picture having been on the scene to witness the action as it unfolded.
It seems Mosimane was a soft target for the opposition, who meticulously set up a trap into which the former Bafana Bafana mentor fell hook, line and sinker.
Fighting with ball boys, match officials and just purely failing to stay calm led to a Sundowns' implosion that has cost them a place in the group stages and a chance to be seeded for the CAF Champions League draw next year.
This was a costly trip in many respects. How the Brazilians did not anticipate such hostility against a side that has an incredible home record is quite puzzling.
Mosimane had told Ngidi he thrives on these pre-match squabbles when playing on the continent because it makes him and the rest of the squad stronger mentally.
However, the coach appears to have gone out there almost completely blind and, sadly, looking like a rookie. I know it's easier said than done to keep your emotions in check when you feel you are being swindled, but Sundowns had their fate in their own hands with that 3-1 lead.
It's not a hidden secret that our African counterparts often use every trick in the book in hot pursuit of favourable results, and it's up to our clubs to look out for themselves in these types of scenarios.
A South African club’s participation in a CAF competition is not complete without a horror story, whether it’s being in transit for 14 hours and having to prepare for a match with very little sleep from the energy-sapping trip or the travelling camera crew having their equipment confiscated so that the world doesn’t get to see the shenanigans.
But twice now, in 2013 and 2015, Orlando Pirates have reached the finals of a continental tournament. So it is not impossible.Mosimane would have learnt a valuable lesson ahead of next year in the Champions League.
Ditto his men especially an experienced head like goalkeeper Onyango, who should have known better than to kick an opponent in an already ill-tempered clash away from home against a side that just about never lose in their own backyard.
It’s true… Africa is not for sissies.
*Follow me on Twitter @superjourno
The Star