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.