Mamelodi Sundowns secured a 4-1 victory over CR Belouizdad in the first leg of their CAF Champions League quarter finals on Saturday night in Algeria.
Goals from Peter Shalulile, Neo Maema and Cassius Mailula were the difference on the night as The Brazilians moved closer to their Champions League quest. The Tshwane giants got off to a dream start inside four minutes when Shalulile opened the scoring board, Downs got their first corner when Belouizdad tried to clear out the ball in their box.
Teboho Mokoena delivered the corner kick from the right side of the pitch, the home side failed to clear the ball out of their half when Aubrey Modiba replayed the ball back into the box and Shalulile got to the end of the cross with a header to take the lead. Masandawana continued to knock on the door in the opening minutes before the home side could settle into their rhythm.
Twenty minutes into the game, Downs produced a great team goal. Shalulile sliced the ball between two defenders to find Maema who tapped home with a first-time shot after Alexis Guendouz failed to collect. Pressure continued to mount on CRB and when they made a mistake in their own half, Thapelo Morena was close by to collect the ball and shared it with Themba Zwane who gave the ball to Shalulile, the Namibian striker pulled a shot but it was blocked. After the half hour mark, Mokoena delivered a long free kick towards goal but the keeper was in the right position to collect.
Further chances would fall to The Brazilians but the scoreline remained at 2-0 for much of the first half and the home team threatened as the game was approaching half time. Emmanuel Iwuala shot from the side but saw his shot blocked out and went out for a corner. Belouizdad pulled one back from the corner through Miloud Rebiai and walked into the tunnel trailing behind with one goal.
Resumption of play saw both sides pick up where they left off, but it was Masandawana who found an early opener in the second half through Shalulile and extended the lead to 3-1, capitalizing on the defenders errors. Downs looked lethal on attack using their wingers, Morena’s brilliant effort at goal hit the woodwork and Belouizdad regained possession.
The Brazilians found their way back into attack, Zwane and Mbule had chances each at goal but they were unlucky to get past Guendouz. Belouizdad looked to find answers through Mokhtar Belkhither with a cross into the box, Wamba Djouffo pulled away from two defenders but Williams made a save to deny any chances at goal for their hosts. Shalulile planted an angled shot and nearly scored a hat trick with his curled shot hitting the goalposts.
A triple substitution of Abubeker Nasir, Sphelele Mkhulise and Cassius Mailula was made in the seventieth minute from Masandawana’s bench, Zwane, Morena and Maema went off. Fifteen minutes later, Bongani Zungu made his way in for Mbule and Rushine De Reuck exchanged with Shalulile.
Williams made a comfortable save from a long in coming shot outside the 18 area. Immediately after the turnover ball for the hosts, Iwuala went wide off target. Sundowns continued to pile on the pressure before the South African Champions found the back of the net, Mailula got on to a rebound from the keeper, with the initial shot coming from Nasir’s attempt at goal.
The Brazilians walked away with four goals at the Nelson Mandela Stadium and will host CR Belouizdad in the return leg at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday, 29 April.
This is how we lined up:
Williams, Mbule (84′ Zungu), Mudau, Morena (70′ Mailula), Mvala, Modiba, Mokoena, Zwane (70′ Mkhulise), Maema (70′ Nasir), Boutouil, Shalulile (87′ De Reuck).
Subs:
- Onyango, De Reuck, Zungu, Sirino, Maboe, Mkhulise, Mashego, Mailula, Nasir.
I believe we needed a wake up call against Stellies so that we have a game of our lives against the Algerians.A master class performance by the boys,well done Masandawawna,may God send u all the way the finals of the Champions League..Yes our downfall was to win the league with 15 games to spare because believe u me,as early as that period there was no one who was threatening us with anything,this time around we just crowned ourselves with no effort at all to challenge us from our opponents.It was a splendid performance from everyone go Brazilians go…
I would like to thank our team for the good performance yesterday not forgetting the whole technical staff,job well done.
If you do the good things we nid to applaud you not to come only on this platform when you are losing.North African teams are very afraid of skillfully players they get frustrated easily and commit many fouls and that’s what’s happened yesterday Mbule and Zwane,Maema and Modiba were terrorizing them even Mkhulise when he came he continued were others left off and I so wish Kapinga and Rhalani to be included oneday so that we can hammered 5hem with an avalanche of goals,once you try to emulate them by their European approach they will hammer you.I don’t think they’ll beat us here in Pretoria even though soccer is unpredictable I can safely say we are in the semifinals,siyabonga kakhulu to everybody that is associated with the Yellow Nations,Kby forever
KaboYellow Masandawana! Thank you Mvala, Thank you Modiba!!! Thank you to all
Great team effort by the guys, special mention Master Chef was at another level also very impressive was Boutouil at left centre back very solid. But all in all every player came to the party and put in a shift. But being a spoilt supporter that I am I still feel we should have given them half a dozen. At Loftus we need to increase the volume Masandawana will be there to support the guys and cheer them into the semi-finals
I think we prepared well for that game everyone was on top of their game,even the introduction of Nasir,Mailula,and Mkhulise took the tempo of the game to another level,i see more than 5 goas on the return leg in a hot Pretoria.My plea to the technical team is to prepare for the next season on our remaining league games,we need to always be 40 steps ahead of the other team. We need to pay the likes of Peterse that boy is talented,the likes of Maboe,Zungu,De Reuck,Mashego,Ngobeni and our young stars,Mabena,Carelse,Nkosi,Siya Nyanda and Freese.I see similarities in Mkhulise and Nyanda,Shalulile and Carelse,Riandre Freese and Mabena and Mabena are rare breed these boys are a marvel to watch.