Mamelodi Sundowns secured a staggering 5-2 win over Al-Ahly on Saturday afternoon in the second leg of the CAF Champions League contest to advance to the knockout stages.
The visitors were handed an early goal as Marcelo Allende opened the scoring two minutes into the encounter. The Egyptian giants found an equalizer early on but Downs skipper Themba Zwane extended the lead once more and Teboho Mokoena sealed the first half proceedings to make it 3-1 going into the break. Sundowns target man Peter Shalulile scored a brace in the clash after the Red Devils’ second goal that looked to threaten Masandawana’s chances at triumph.
“These types of victories are not moments where you have to lose and you still have to stay very, very focused, they are very dangerous. There’s two more games in the group stages and a very long way to go in the Champions League.” Said The Brazilians Head Coach Rulani after the match.
“Sundowns has done it before, we haven’t done anything miraculous and anything out of the ordinary. The quality of the football players makes it possible. When you’ve got good football players any result is possible.”
Coach Rulani took a moment to applaud the supporters of the club for showing up to the stadium and rallying behind the team in one of their biggest rivalries, he said: “A big congratulations to the supporters because today they showed what is needed from them in the Champions League, they need to be the 12th, 13th man.”
“They need to sing, they need to bring the drum and make the atmosphere hostile and make it uncomfortable for the opposition and that’s what they did and I think that’s what helped us. They [Al-Ahly] are a very good side. Let’s not forget, this is Al Ahly we’re talking about, a team that finished third last season in the club World Cup, this season they just narrowly lost to Real Madrid in the last minutes.”
Bafana Ba Style have another testing game two days after their massive win in the CAF Champions League as they set up to welcome KwaZulu-Natal based Royal AM on Tuesday night. The Brazilians Head Coach showed confidence in his players to conquer in the Champions League as well as successfully defend their domestic titles that await. Coach Rulani also emphasized on the magnitude of this victory and what it means to the players.
“Don’t forget that today we beat a very, very good side. Give this group a fair chance, most of them really, really are playing their first real Champions League, so give them a fair chance to compete and to fight for it. It’s not easy, we are in the last three competitions until the end of the season [and] we’ve got a lot of traveling in between. Now we have to face a very motivated Royal AM side with a new coach in John Maduka.”
“After that [game on Tuesday] immediately the next day we’ve got to travel. We are off to another hostile environment with heat. We have to put 90 minutes into the legs and that’s not going to be easy because now the expectations have been raised”
I concur…a big big very BIG congratulations to the supporters. The yellow nation colored loftus. It was beautiful to see. Young Motsepe and Mabunda doing a very good job in activating supporters. Of course they not alone but it’s a team effort…
Congratulations to all the yellow nation,to the technical team and players you did us proud,special praise to Maema,he was outstanding on the day he was doing what Mkhulise is mastering,defending,turning and helping team to attack that was progressive play from him.As much as we are very much happy and proud there are small details that can make us crash out of this cup prematurely,the let back position,i think Modiba will never good at that position,he is only good when in the half of the opposition,we can’t struggle on the same position all the time it seems we are not learning,let us give other players fair chance so that when we struggle again we will know what to do.Like i said before that the are small details which need fixing if you watch a game like chiefs supporters you will not notice those fine print and i urge us to watch that game again on a sober mind with no pressure.Yes Modiba was beaten by Tau but Mvala should have attempted to cover him instead he waited with his arms behind his back before even Tau entered the 18 area until he eventually scored Mvala did nothing. Technical team nearly made us play under pressure,if we are honest enough we could have ended the game with ten men,i thought Mvala was going to be replaced after getting a yellow card bcz that was end to end staff and he made another silly bookable offence when Tau was not going goal-ward,we all know Mval will never slow down yellow card or no,18 area or not he just throws his foot recklessly.Those are small details that need fixing. The way our team is playing if we ca’t win this cup this season we will never win it again,this team is very very good and very very well coached.We really appreciate the good job done by both the technical team and the players.
Rulani lets give you credit while you still with us,yes you acknowledged us as SUPPORTERS but let us return the favour back to you my coach Sundowns is a marvel to watch thanks to you a thousand times. You have given us bragging rights week in and week out,we still enjoy the commitment shown by your players,that never say die attitude,that will to win at all costs that you instilled to everyone associated with Sundowns.We wish you all the best may everything you touch turned into Gold.God Bless you my coach,we may say things out of emotions but you are still the best thing ever happened to us….
Well articulated member!!!
Good win masandawana thanks to technical team and I’m happy to be sundowns supporter, but modiba is always costing us and he will do that again