Peter Shalulile’s second-half heroics have seen Mamelodi Sundowns edge Esperance Sportive de Tunis in a 1-0 thriller in the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld.
The hosts had an early sight of a goal as they were yearning for an early goal. It was Teboho Mokoena who fired a shot after a good build-up but the goalkeeper made a good save to deny him an opener.
The visitors were effective with the low block, denying their hosts a chance to score. They, however, were taking advantage of the counterattack which saw them drive the ball to Downs’ half, but luckily Thapelo Morena was in the box to stop the shot.
Mokoena was fancying goals because he fired another shot from range, sending the goalkeeper to draw a save. Jayden Adams also had a chance in front of goal from a cross delivered by Lucas Ribeiro. Adams tried to steer the ball into the net with a header but the effort was miscued. Regardless of Masandawana’s many efforts in front of goal, the two sides went to the interval goalless.
It only took nine minutes inside the restart for the Brazilians to find the back of the net. It was Shalulile’s tap-in that broke the deadlock after Adams had assisted him with a header.
The goal saw Esperance looking to retaliate and find an equalizer because ten minutes later, they drew a big save from Lucas Suarez inside the area. Substitute, Arthur Sales finished the save by clearing the ball away from danger.
While the hosts were looking for a goal to double their advantage, their Esperance counterparts pushed more numbers in front as they searched for a goal that would level matters. A good fight was fought by the Pretoria-based because in the end, they emerged victorious through Shalulile’s only goal of the encounter. Up next for Masandawana, is the second leg of these quarterfinals which will take place in Tunisia on Tuesday night.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Mudau, Kekana, Modiba, Suarez, Mokoena, Morena, Allende, Adams, Shalulile, Ribeiro.
Subs: Onyango, Maema, Matthews, Khoza, Rayners, Lunga, Sales, Aubaas, Maseko.
A great result yesterday going forward &Sundowns mst know that’s 1nil &take this as a half time score.Sundowns is not convincing at all with the slender win with a big chunk of useless ball possession that even frustrated the Sundowns coach.U r having 72%of possession bt only 6 shots at goal&u wud expect Esperance was on the back foot bt was on relaxed mood,with little or no entry in opposition box.Useless,aimless&negative possession is what’s we accustomed with no sense of urgency.Then we hav Ronwen,Kekana,Modiba,Allende with their dangerous possession infront of our goals.This over reliance on Ribeiro for unlocking defenders when is Zwane recovering,what is the hold up?Because he started training.If Cardoso is staying at Sundowns,management mst stop buying players 4 the coach&am worried by lack of aggression from players no no no.
Number one spoiled brat in our team is Williams,I’ve just read now that Khune said Wiliams was doing the opposite of what the coach was saying that’s exactly what i observed and what i said on the last page and what I’ve been saying all along that he doesn’t deserve to be our captain,his play lacks discipline and maturity,he puts other players under pressure unnecessarily,Kekana nearly got serious injury because of the stupid play from Williams on the other hand i was happy we Kekana was kicked because just like Williams he takes forever to pass the ball forward.I said it b4 and i’m gonna say it again you cannot score goals or create scoring chances playing in your own half next to your 18 area,this is exactly what Manqoba was against.Just because Williams won some individual awards he thinks he is Mr know it all at the end of the day we are going to blame the coach because of some stupid individuals.I want to take refresh Williams,b4 joining Downs you never knew the league tittle medal,you never played in the knockout stages of champions league consecutively if you ever played in the champions league.So you are what you are because of Sundowns not the other way around.This is the highest level of club competition and some people spent lot of money for this club to play at this level and others spent lots of money and traveled hundreds of kilometers to watch the team play they deserve respect and honor so,stop your nonsense playing style.When we go to the stadium we go there primarily to see the team scoring goals not to watch a keeper playing with the ball at the back.
Thanks for the hard work our team and technical team have put on this game.
Now we need to make sure they don’t score in Tunis.
LETS DO IT BOYS, LET US BE DISCIPLINED AT THE BACK AND DO WHAT WE USUALLY DO. WE ARE BEHIND YOU HERE.