The match was initially suppose to take place this past Saturday, but officials postponed the game after the pitch was waterlogged following heavy rain in Durban last week.
Jose Torrealba, Gert Schalkwyk, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Reneilwe Letsholonyane netted for Chiefs, with Onismor Bhasera sending his spot-kick wide, while Surprise Moriri, Lerato Chabangu ad Mbulelo Mabizela scored for the Brazilians, with Esrom Nyandoro and Thando Mngomeni missing their penalties.
Trott Moloto’s side will feel hard done by following their dominance for most of the match, but then again, they only have themselves to blame, considering their woeful finishing in front of goal, with Moriri the chief culprit.
Sundowns created the first chance of the game in the 10th minute when Derrick Spencer headed against the crossbar from a free-kick by Lerato Chabangu.
Chiefs should have taken the lead three minutes later when Thuso Phala shot wide from close range following a good cross by skipper Jimmy Tau.
Sundowns wasted a glorious chance in the 24th minute when man-of-the-match Josta Dladla collected a superb pass by Chabangu, but the winger’s pass to an unmarked Collins Mbesuma was a poor one.
Schalkwyk sent a header wide from a cross by Letsholonyane three minutes from the end.
There was concern for the Chiefs side as Jonathan Quartey was stretchered off at the end of the half after a clash of heads with Sundowns striker Surprise Moriri, with the Ghanaian rushed off to hospital with suspected concussion.
Former Jomo Cosmos defender Mokete Tsotetsi replaced Quartey at the start of the second half.
Sundowns, who had the better of the opening exchanges of the second stanza, should have gone ahead a minute after the restart when Moriri set up Nyandoro on the edge of the area, but the midfielder’s shot flew straight at Chiefs keeper Itumeleng Khune.
Dladla then sent a header just wide in the 47th minute from a superb cross by Shere Lekgothoane.
Moriri missed the best chance of the game four minutes from the end when Dladla broke clear on the right before finding the striker with a superb low cross inside the six-yard area, but the Bafana Bafana international somehow managed to send the ball back towards the corner flag. Unbelievable!
Thuso Phala almost stole it for Chiefs at the end of regulation time when he headed just wide from a cross by David Mathebula, forcing the game into extra-time.
Sundowns dominated the first half of extra-time, with Moriri, Chabangu and substitute Benedict Vilakazi shooting over from inside the area, with Kaizer Chiefs failing to register a single shot on goal.
The Brazilians continued in the same vein in the second half of extra-time, with Moriri again guilty of wasting several good chances in front of goal.
Chiefs came back strong towards the end of the game with Mokete Tsotetsi seeing his header brilliantly saved by Baloyi, and the Amakhosi should have wrapped up the game a minute from the end when Schalkwyk played Mandla Masango clear, and although the substitute beat the last defender he opted to shoot at goal himself, with Jose Torrealba unmarked alongside him, but Baloyi again made a vital save to force the match into a penalty shoot-out.
Chiefs can consider themselves lucky winners of the R8million prize, but at the end of the day, as the tournament’s slogan says, Wafa Wafa, they can proudly say they are ‘The Last Men Standing’.
