THE LITTLE LION: Percy Tau heads to Japan on top of the world

CHAMPIONS OF AFRICA: Percy Tau (front right) can't quite believe it!

THE PERCY TAU PHENOMENON IS REAL. There was a time, not a year ago, when the only thing the little lion at Mamelodi Sundowns had in common with Lionel Messi was his diminutive stature.

But with Leonardo Castro suffering that long-term ankle injury, Tau returned to the regular starting line-up during Pitso Mosimane’s fabulous “back-door” African Champions League triumph and he has NEVER looked back.

He was the little lad sitting looking bemused during the celebrations in Egypt after KaboYellow were crowned continental kings. He no longer had to bring a cushion to matches for a long stint on the bench. He was a major part of a phenomenal success.

It was all too much for the 22-year-old who only got his matriculation certificate last year.

Vital goals in Africa have been followed by great goals in domestic competition. His second goal on Saturday against Free State Stars was a thing over wonder, nearly as spectacular as THAT last-gasp overhead equaliser from Baroka’s Oscarine Masuluke against Orlando Pirates.

Tau picked up the ball near the halfway line, cut a swathe through the falling Stars defence and put it through the legs of a defender and the goalkeeper to make it 4-1 to Sundowns on a day of serious confidence-building.

On Monday, Sundowns flew off to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup with their heads held high. The shock defeat against Cape Town City on Wednesday was forgotten. Sundowns can go top of the PSL if they win all their games in hand.

Real Madrid and the rest of the world’s continental champions await them in Japan but Percy has an old head on those young shoulders. After yet another Man of the Match award, he said: “We did well, I just try to do what I know. The focus is on my football, nothing else.

”Yes, I do miss chances, but I’m happy to score two today.”

Coach Mosimane is nearly breathless in his praise: “Our boys, sometimes they can be naughty. We could have scored more. Percy at the moment is unbelievable. He’s scoring goals, and he’s growing, growing all the time.”

With Castro back in the starting eleven for the first time, Tau maintains his spot next to the CBD as the team heads for Japan. It gives Sundowns a lovely, free-running spirit to have Castro, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly up there with Tau.

Up to this point, general consensus indicated Tau, an academy product born in what was once known as Witbank, was way behind Dolly in the array of young South Africans who could break in to the top five leagues in Europe.

For years I questioned Dolly’s exclusion from the Bafana Bafana senior set-up. The same can be said for Tau, who never caught Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s agent-jaundiced eye with the national squad.

But with Dolly’s road to Olympiacos in Greece blocked by stubborn Sundowns officials insisting the R10m buy-out clause in his contract was “a mistake” it could be Tau, “lion” in English, will be the man to poach in Japan.

He has the talent. He has the personality. He has the touch. South Africa longs for a player other than Sunderland’s elderly Steve Pienaar playing in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues. For our young lion Percy Tau, as Sundowns fans say, the Sky is the Limit!

PITSO FOR PRESIDENT! Mamelodi Sundowns do the nation proud in Egypt

PROVING A POINT: Tiyani Mabunda got the opener

PITSO FOR PRESIDENT! Can there be any other response to Mamelodi Sundowns superb win in Cairo on Sunday night?

There was a time when beating Al Ahly or Zamalek in Egypt was unthinkable. Orlando Pirates went some way to disproving that theory in 2013, but Masandawana finally destroyed the myth with a 2-1 win at the PetroSport Stadium.

Tiyani Mabunda, the man who had his superb debut goal taken away when Algeria’s ES Setif were disqualified after crowd trouble in the opening game, got Sundowns underway with a cool follow-up after Khama Billiat hit the post in the first half.

A rusty Dennis Onyango, Uganda’s Player of the Year and the PSL’s Goalkeeper of the Season, then got tangled up with centre-back Thabo Nthethe, the PSL Defender of the year, allowing Mo Ibrahim a fortunate equaliser.

But in the second half, after Leonardo Castro hit the bar, Keagan Dolly produced the assist for PSL Player of the Season Billiat to thread home the winner.

OUCH: scorer Mo Ibrahim's broken ankle

The highly-rated Egyptians, unable to fill their stadium due to crowd restrictions, sang themselves to a stand-still… but the players failed to respond. Their nose for goal was about as effective as the crumbled feature on the front of their historic Sphinx after Ibrahim went off with what look like a badly broken ankle.

Ultimately, this win - following on from the home victory over Nigeria’s Enyimba - should see Pitso Mosimane’s record-breaking PSL champions through to the semi-finals of the African Champions League with two to play.

With Setif thrown out, two from three qualify - and Sundowns are simply too well equipped to fail from here.

What was it Pitso said? "I always tell the boys, as long as it’s 11 against 11 on the pitch and the referee is doing his job well, then we should be able to play our normal game. What’s good is that no one is afraid of teams like Zamalek any more."

Yup, the same coach who described football in Africa as "a jungle" after the defeat against Medeama!

The prospect of a continental triumph for the first time since Orlando Pirates in 1995 is starting to dawn. Not bad for a side knocked out of the competition by AS Vita and then dumped from the secondary CAF Confederations Cup by Medeama earlier in the season.

Yes, Sundowns slipped in through the back door when Vita were found guilty of fielding an ineligible player. But to have their opening win in Algeria torn away from them by CAF makes up for that giant slice of fortune.

With Mosimane forced to bring people back from holiday - some without contracts - when the news of their reprieve broke, Sundowns have been little short of miraculous during the South African off-season.

With Enyimba to play in Nigeria and Zamalek in Tshwane, Pitso and his CBD stand on the verge of the semi-finals with Castro classy, Billiat brilliant and Dolly dominant.

15 years after their one and only appearance in the final in 2001, few would bet against them going all the way again. Pitso, who described Africa as “a jungle” and complained about the refereeing following the double failure earlier in the season, will have a very broad smile this morning.

And a final thought I've just put on twitter: Sitting here thinking DOLLY should have 20 @BafanaBafana caps, PITSO should replace #shaky and @IamKhamaBilliat should be in the Premier League.

CHAMPIONS! Hail Pitso, six months after the Sundowns fans wanted him out

RUNNING THE RISK: Faty Papy in hospital last December

We could talk about the racism of Matthew Theunissen today. Just been listening to the fool on the radio. But where will that get us?

Let's talk about Wits University's professional football team instead. A club long divorced from the Clever Boys it once represented, a club with a tiny following, punching above its weight.

On Saturday, they might have had two penalties against Chippa United in a 1-1 draw which essentially ended their championship dreams.

And as coach Gavin Hunt said afterwards they had chances “from one yard, my daughter could have stuck one away” as he neatly side-stepped the issue of his top scorer James Keene remaining benched throughout the 90 minutes.

Or perhaps we could talk about their 25-year-old Burundian Faty Papy collapsing again during Saturday’s game. When the same thing happened on December 8 last year, he was rushed to hospital and emerged saying: “I’m fine, the doctors have told me not to speak to the media.”

But nobody will talk, even the chatty Gavin Hunt won’t pick up the phone. And let’s be honest, nobody cares about Wits, who play at a ground with a capacity of 5000 and one of the biggest budgets in South African football thanks to Bidvest.

The point is, Wits' failure to put the pressure on Mamelodi Sundowns has been a major let down this season, as the Soweto giants have failed to make anything approaching a title challenge.

Pitso Mosimane’s men could even break the record 69-point haul Kaizer Chiefs mustered last season. If they win their last three games - one of them against Wits on May 11 - they will set a new mark of 71 points.

Even a defeat against Hunt’s men - who need to be Aces tonight - is unlikely to dent Sundowns title challenge, which should be all wrapped up if they beat lowly AmaTuks tomorrow night.

That would take Masandawana and their billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe to SEVEN titles since the PSL was formed in 1996 - not bad given the club were repossessed by Standard Bank from Zola Mahobe in 1988.

That makes Sundowns by some distance the dominant force of the PSL over the past 20 years, a fact not lost on KaboYellow supporters.

What is lost is this: in September last year, Sundowns fans were trying to remove Mosimane from his position as head coach after defeats against Mpumalanga Black Aces and Golden Arrows.

REMEMBER WHEN: Pitso Mosimane gets a police escort

And before that, in April 2013, angry fans forced him to rely on a police escort to emerge safely from Sundowns’ game against Bloemfontein Celtic at Pilditch Stadium.

But since he took over from the Dutchman Johan Neeskens in December 2012 and finished 10th, Mosimane in his three full seasons has finished FIRST, SECOND and this season FIRST.

And even as he achieved the sensational run, Pitso has drastically cut Sundowns infamous spending, sorted out the behind-the-scenes problems and created a cohesive unit at Chloorkop.

So when Pitso makes us laugh with his “eating grass” post-match interviews, when he sheds tears after defeat, stop and think a moment. He’s the best local coach around, Bafana Bafana should never have sacked him, he works hard and created a new CBD in Tshwane.

But then tomorrow night all that might be forgotten. The job will be done. Pitso will be King. Until they lose a couple of games and the vultures begin to hover.