Sundowns home and dry after rain
It is said that rain brings blessings, and it seemed to be the case for Pitso Mosimane’s Mamelodi Sundowns last night as the rain poured down moments before kick-off at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
After playing to a stalemate in Rwanda against Rayon Sport earlier this month, Downs won last night’s match and the overall tie 2-0 to advance to the Caf Champions League group stages.
After several slip ups and halfbaked passes on the swampy pitch, defender Wayne Arendse’s (below) 34th minute header put the home side in front.
Masandawana doubled their lead 10 minutes after the restart through the alert Sibusiso Vilakazi. The Bafana Bafana international headed the ball past goalkeeper Eric Ndayishimiye after Gaston Sirino’s strike came off the cross bar.
About 20 minutes later, Vilakazi got himself in the referee’s book for what the man in the middle adjudged to be a dive in the box.
Mosimane, who returned to the dugout for Downs after missing the side’s 2-1 win against Eastern Cape Bees in the Nedbank Cup, handed Aubrey Ngoma his Champions League debut, and later brought on Oupa Manyisa, who was welcomed by “Ace” chants by the Sundowns faithful. Vilakazi and Sirino were the players withdrawn respectively.
Percy Tau had a frustrating night as he saw two of his chances going narrowly wide of goal. His last effort was a tame shot in the 88th minute before he was withdrawn for Jeremy Brockie.
Meanwhile on Friday, neighbors SuperSport United advanced to the playoffs of the Caf Confederation Cup after beating Angolan side Petro Athletico to win the match and the overall tie 2-1 on aggregate. Thabo Mnyamane was the hero as he scored a brace for Matsatsantsa A Pitori. Matsatsantsa fought back from a goal down to eliminate the Angolans.
Benni McCarthy’s Cape Town City side were not as fortunate as the capital city campaigners. The Mother City-based outfit suffered a 1-2 home defeat to Mozambican side Costa do Sol after winning the first-leg 1-0. As a result, City bowed out on the away goals rule.