Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango has commented on the controversy around his final penalty save in MTN8 final against Cape Town City.
The Ugandan international saved five of Cape Town City’s penalties in the MTN8 Final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
However, some fans complained as they believed Onyango stepped off his line to deny Thamsanqa Mkhize’s penalty, which saw Masandawana clinch their first MTN8 trophy.
The 36-year-old Downs skipper said he didn’t cheat, and it’s not his job to give re-take penalties.
“I have watched every minute of the game and, of course, for me, I’m happy that we won, the rest is none of my business, it’s someone’s business because my job is to save the ball and to make the team win,” he told Thomas Mlambo on Ultimate Sports Show.
“It’s not my job, it’s somebody’s job to see what happened and make the rules and decide but for me, all I know is we lifted the trophy properly and truthfully.
“We don’t cheat deliberately, and I don’t think I cheated. My job was to keep the ball out of the goals and for me, I knew he is going that side.
“If anyone sees that video he’ll see that I moved to the right side just before he even went to the ball because I shuffled across to the right side, even if they said that I was off the line, but I didn’t go the opposite direction.
“But I don’t focus on the negative I always focus on the positive, their keeper was moving off the line but because they didn’t win, no one will look at their keeper.”
Onyango also said that he took the risk that worked for the team, and admitted that he moved a bit before the ball was kicked, but insisted he didn’t cheat.
“Same happened when Kennedy played against Chiefs, no one looked at the opposite goalkeeper but when you win other people look at the negative side and for us, we look at the positive because we take a risk,” he added.
“In life you must take a risk to win, and I took a risk we won, and we move on. We were focusing on the league right now.
“And I’m not going to tell the referee that I have moved off the line, my job is to catch the ball that’s it. But it was not intention, I just wanted the team to win, and I didn’t cheat. I did not cheat. I just moved a bit early. I shuffled across earlier.”
