Mamelodi Sundowns suffered their first African Football League defeat as they went down by two goals to one away to Wydad in the first leg of the continental final on Sunday night.
The defeat saw Downs concede for the first time in the new competition and left the team from Pretoria with an uphill battle in next weeks second leg.
It was a cagey start to the game with the host side dominating the possession and The Brazilians having to withstand early spells of pressure.
The first chance of the game came early when Montasser Lahtimi of Wydad broke forward and surged into the penalty area before having his shot courageously blocked by Rivaldo Coetzee. Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams was called into action not long after as he made a comfortable save from the free kick attempt.
Masandawana had to wait almost forty minutes for their first clear look at goal when Lesiba Nku found space ahead of him a drove towards the Wydad goal, however the speedy winger could only find the side-netting.
The hosts took the lead with a few minutes remaining in the second half when Montasser Lahtimi jinked his way into the box and played a low cross that was diverted into his own net by Rivaldo Coetzee.
The second half saw both teams ramp up the intensity as the away side made two changes during the break, with Mosa Lebusa and Lebohang Maboe entering the fray to spark the fightback.
Teboho Mokoena came closest as he forced Wydad keeper Youssef El Motie to save over the bar after lining up one of his trademark long distance free kicks.
Ka Bo Yellow continued applying the pressure and eventually were awarded with a penalty after a VAR review adjudged Yahya Jabrane to have blocked the shot from Mokoena with his arm in the box. Moroccan defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil stepped up to the spot and made no mistake as he drew Masandawana level in the game.
With the intensity at its highest and both teams going for the win, it was the hosts who found the back of the net again as Anas Serhatt fired a powerful strike into the back of the net.
Gaston Sirino, Neo Maema and Bongani Zungu all made their way onto the field to try and help Downs pull another one back however the team from Casablanca remained resolute in the closing stages to hold onto their advantage.
The Brazilians will have their work cut out for them as they look to overturn the deficit and lift the inaugural African Football League trophy next weekend in Pretoria.
Up next, a return to South Africa to gear up for a long-awaited return to league action as Bafana Ba Style travel to face AmaZulu.
How We Lined Up: Williams, Mudau, Coetzee, Boutouil, Kekana, Mokoena, Allende, Modiba, Zwane, Nku, Maseko
Subs: D. Onyango, Lebusa, Sirino, Mashego, Mabena, B Onyango De Reuck, Maema, Zungu, Mkhulise, Mvala, Maboe
Just imagine if the own goal was scored by Mvala, the poor boy’s head was going to be severed. How Allende finished the game is beyond my comprehension, he gave them the 2nd goal on the platter. He’s been off since the 2nd leg in Cairo and I thought he’ll be sacrificed for Mvala. It’s very clear to me Rhulani will never win these continental competitions. There’s no way we’ll ever beat Wydad for as long as he’s still a coach. As much as Wydad is tired and their players getting injured, but I don’t see us beating them any time soon. Congratulations to Modiba, Mokoena and Mudau. The three played the game of their lives, they played as if their lives depended on it.
Great performance by the team….very attacking despite playing away…Allende had a great game…even Modiba…don’t speak of Mudau anymore…the guy world class….crucial away goal…we just need to win 1 nil…I trust that we’ll do it here…it was a very demanding match….I must commend Rhulani for spotting that Kekana could not come out with the ball because he’s a right-footer playing on the left side…at times he didn’t know what to do with the ball….good subs….let’s fill Loftus….
A difficult game on the shoulders of Sundowns especially in the first half.The injured player of Casablanca exploited Boutouil’s weakness and again the second goal was initiated on his side.We did the same thing against Wydad scoring and then let them score quickly after we have scored.Rhulani is too rigid to show some flexibility,he had a chance to put a natural left back in Mashego and shift Boutouil after substituting Grant Kekana.Another thing is we missed Ribeiro and Shalulile dearly because this false striker thing is not working at all.Zwane and Nku were very much invisible throughout the game.I believe it’s a repetition of 2017 or 2018 if not mistaken when we needed to score at home against Wydad and failed to score and we were knocked out of the Champions league and it seems as if we don’t know how to beat Casablanca.Is Rhulani going to be the best coach who played the most beautiful&appetising football at Sundowns but failed to win a cup ?
We had a tough night and did what we had to do and also made lots of mistakes.We mentioned the importance of playing a safe game away and stop trying to be smart by playing from the back after Ahly game but we repeated the same mistakes hence we conceded the second goal. Zwane was not in the game yet he stayed long in the pitch for doing nothing and Modiba who was turning,driving the team forward was sacrificed for Maema who was always passing the ball back.Not defending Riva but the ball was out of his reach,he was trying to safe the situation,had he not touched it the striker would have had an easy tap in unlike Mvala’s own goal on a harmless ball where the keeper had it covered.We needed someone to carry the team on his shoulder early like Teboho did,someone who is not scared to take the opposition on like Mkulise.The introduction of Zungu gave the team more bite.I think how finished the game is how we should start our second leg,start with Zungu and Mkulise and put Zwane on the bench.We need players who can run at those Wydaad payers in the first half of the second leg and the likes of Zwane and Sirinoh will finish the game in the second half.Rulani is a very good coach but he lacks that cutting edge he is obsessed with playing smart at the back when in cup games he should obsessed with scoring goals. I’ve never seen anywhere in the world where a team has won a game or a cup with ball possession,sometimes yo have to be smart and play for a win and not beautiful soccer especially away in cup games.No one cares about who played beautiful football in cup games but who scored goals and won the cup.We have come a very long way we just can’t lose this cup in the name of beautiful football.Someone must wake up and smell the coffee.
Who cares about a team that played beautiful football in the final and losses the cup?
Fellow Dawanas pls don’t attack me but ita my observation, maybe I don’t know soccer but the truth must be told not that I’m attacking the player,Zwane is not giving us anything new or better except that he always looses the ball cheaply but come matchday he’s on starting line up or its because he’s a captain I really don’t know. Our players they must also learn to strike or shoot outside the eighteen area not that thing of too many passes on opposition area,I won’t talk about AB being a leftback anymore because our coach he’s not listening to us let him do whatever he likes uyena okhoshayo ekugcineni.We can beat this team only if our team stop being obsessed with beautiful or too much possession football that not yielded results,Kby forever
Yellow Nation Hard Luck to everyone. Straight to the point .Only Sundowns beat Sundowns. Rivaldo own Goal sluggish grounded
William not having plan B.
He was supposed to expect square pass or near pole. Therefore to Organize defence
Allande good assist lnstead of heading ball up he layed it down
Playing without a striker .It limits Zwane and Gaston creativity
Our subtutions last night
didn’t come .
to party please let us feel up loftus.
Coach please rest your first 11 against Amazulu this is half time
Hi masandawana, the boys fought well yesterday but we were let down by our own mistakes, boutill should have delt with the first goal but he was defending from inside so he gave too much space to wydad stacker second one Allende headed the ball straight to stacker and it a goal. Lesson learned in Morocco let’s hope next Sunday we will play better
The Amazulu game has been postponed!! Tough luck to the boys but I think they did well under the circumstances!! We must not just criticise the players without looking at the quality of opposition that we were up against!! Yes some errors we made here and there but it was going to be a game of fine margins!! Wydad is very strong team and one we must just accept!! I’m seeing them getting a goal in Pretoria!! We just need to outscore them and defend very well!! We need one or two strikers to come back into the team!! Otherwise playing without out and out striker will work against us!!
Masandawana, on the first goal 4 players could have defended that goal until we scored it ourselves, somewhere we had half chances that fell to Nku and we did not punish them, we tried to play in the second half and after scoring we let them score again, i pray so much that Shalulile and Morena come back in the second leg. in the second leg nobody must kutsa from that boy who plays in the right side. that boy is the only one who was giving us problems, please focus we are in the game but play safe no risks in the 18 area.
GOOD LUCK MASANDAWANA, LET’S BRING IT HOME
THANNK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL MASANDAWANA,THE TECHNICAL TEAM, TEAM DOCTERS, TRAINERS, FITNESS TEAM, ADMISTRATORS, PLAYERS AND THE WHOLE YELLOW NATION, THE SEBOKENG BRANCH, LUV YOU ALL GUYS.