Mamelodi Sundowns played a 2-2 draw against Al Ahly in a thrilling CAF Champions League group stages in Cairo on Saturday night. Masandawana took the lead in the first half and scored their second goal as the second half was coming to a close at the Al Salam Stadium, the South African Champions put the Red Devils under pressure after their first strike from Peter Shalulile and they went on to put on a gallant performance to find an equalizer through Thapelo Morena after Ahly’s two goals in the second half.
“Congratulations to both of the teams for putting on a very good performance, I think the crowd enjoyed it with four goals. Two very good sides on the pitch and congratulations to my players because it’s a very difficult game against a very good side and a team that made us work very, very hard for that point.” Said Bafana Ba Style’s Head Coach, Rulani Mokwena after the encounter.
“We wanted to get three points but it’s not easy against Al Ahly, you’ve got to give a lot of respect. Congratulations to the players [I am] very, very proud of their efforts. Two things which I think I have to say which are important, one is; it was difficult to have Thapelo Morena on the bench because he’s been very, very good for us and then he comes in with an important goal to make it 2-2. Incredible attitude, incredible human being and a top footballer.”
“The second thing is, congratulations to the technical staff, my staff worked very, very hard on this game. Incredible investment, we watched 7 or 8 matches of Al Ahly, even today in the morning we watched another two games. As I said, we wanted three but we got one, we had the better chances in my opinion, we take the one and we move.”‘
The Brazilians have played three games this far in the group stages, collecting seven points in total and registering their first draw in group B after being successful in their opening two games. Downs introduced their new signings and young players in their encounter against Ahly, Coach Rulani outlined the importance of giving his new troops a run in the highly contested African competition, he said:
“We wanted to win today [but] we didn’t win, it’s an important point against a very good team. I said earlier [that it’s] Ronwen Williams first Champions League, [Khuliso] Mudau the right back, last season he was competing with Thapelo Morena [in his] first Champions League. Mothobi Mvala’s first Champions League, he played a little bit last season but [he was] not starting and competing consistently at this level. Neo Maema, Teboho Mokoena and Cassius Mailula [it’s their] first Champions League.”
“Aubrey Modiba on the left back [was featuring a little bit] competing with Lyle Lakay who was the first [choice] starting last season, first Champions League. It would be unfair to judge them on the past, you would have to give them a fair chance to work, to play and to gain experience and to compete and the only way they can do that is to be on the pitch and play this type of games and feel this type of pressure and perform in these type of conditions, that’s the opportunity that we gave them.”
The Brazilians back-to-back victories over Al-Hilal and Coton Sport and a draw against Ahly in the CAF Champions League group stage puts them ahead of their competitors and in a good position to make it to the knockout stage. Masandawana have a proven record of dominating the group stages, last season they were at the top after winning five matches and recording one draw, Coach Rulani emphasized on approaching one game at a time.
“It’s group stages, I’ve maintained from day one that it’s four very good teams and one step at a time. It’s group stages first and now it’s to focus on hosting Al Ahly in Pretoria, making sure that we fight for the points because we have to fight for the points, no points will be given to us and then we will see how it goes from there. Step by step we grow, game by game and we look to get better.”
Bafana Ba Style will now return to South Africa to resume their defence of the Nedbank Cup in a battle against Marumo Gallants on Thursday at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Indeed, we should’ve gone into the 2nd half leading by atleast 3 goals. The indecisiveness of some of our senior players in the final third is just disappointing. Themba Zwane and Peter Shalulile just wanted to walk the ball into the net in the 1st half. Our left-back position is also our achilles heal, and watching Divine Lunga performing the way he did against Zebras left me asking a lot of questions.
I agree with Dalom, we should be more clinical in front of goal, we cant afford to try to walk the ball into the net, this is champions league. We should have terminated the chances we got one by Mshishi and the other by Shalulile, or do we need to get a strikers coach since we now have a set-piece coach, If that is what it would take for our strikers to be ruthless so be it. We can not afford to be playing on the edge when we could have sealed the game
Nail on the head Salon,..why can’t we gamble with Thapelo on the left,.since the situation of Lyle was a hard-pill to swallow for me and many.Al Ahly weakness is that continued pressure make them clue-less plus the squad is ageing,..we need to explore that,. Was very dissapointed with Gift Motupa,. never came to the party .All-in-all we lacked composure and directness in the final third,..the well deserved point belong all,..May God bless US in this league and beyond..and thanks to the board for the beneficial technical changes..🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾👆🏾👆🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Good results, however I am not convinced with the midfield combination we played, in fact it has always been suspect but we were winning and now it was tested and we did not have much ball and this caused overtime work on ur defence.
Thanks for a hard earned point.We should have wrapped up the game at first half.Shalulile must learn to be calm in the 18 area he always rushes things.Mvala is a hard worker just like Shalulile he is not calm in the field he always throws himself at the opponents regardless of the area of the field,he is going to continue making unnecessary penalties and eventually get a red card especially in the CAF games.We started to struggle after Mkhulise ‘s injury,he helped the team both offensively and defensively and Maema ‘s introduction did not help,he was now show.I think the politics happening in the team is going to retard the progress of our team,we really needed Jali in that game.Let’s address our issues for the benefit of the whole Downs family.
excellent comment… and true about the Jali situation.
I agree with Dalom, we should be more clinical in front of goal, we cant afford to try to walk the ball into the net, this is champions league. We should have terminated the chances we got one by Mshishi and the other by Shalulile, or do we need to get a strikers coach since we now have a set-piece coach, If that is what it would take for our strikers to be ruthless so be it. We can not afford to be playing on the edge when we could have sealed the game
Jali was not even in the match squad, why is it taking so much time to give him a contract. He was one of our best players last season and now the rumour mill has it that he is having talks with Chiefs… How can we let such talent to go for free?? more especially his experience in CAF will be needed. Can the team update us on what is going on with Jali
Agree we with you members we need in the middle of the park partnering with mokeona or mbule, as for modiba he is not good defending but offensive he is good and I hope the technical team know what their doing Caz one day we will have serious problem like the one against pirates mtn 8
I agree with all of you guys .
The match should have been wrapped in 1st half .
We got a team here that can compete in a hostile. environment.
Yhoo we also got good aggressive young boy.
Guys there is player that has tested positive for banned substance in our team according to the kickoff publication today!! I wonder who is that player???