Sundowns stun Al Ahly to register first win in Cairo

Mamelodi Sundowns stunned Al Ahly 1-0 during their lively Caf Champions League group stages clash at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday night.

With this historic and hard-earned three points, that were secured through a late goal by substitute Thapelo Morena, the Brazilians have maintained their position at the top of Group A with seven points from three matches.

The Red Devils are sitting dangerously in third spot with one point from two matches and they have some work to do in their remaining four matches to progress to the next round.

In the process, Sundowns improved their poor away record against Al Ahly as they had lost their previous five matches in Cairo where they also failed to score.

For this game, the Sundowns coaching trio of Manqoba Mngqithi, Steve Komphela and Rulani Mokwena made two changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Al-Merreikh of Sudan last weekend.

Between the sticks, Kennedy Mweene replaced injured Denis Onyango and Teboho Mokoena received his first Champions League start.

In the absence of regular captain Onyango, Mngqithi, Komphela and Mokwena handed the captain’s armband to midfielder Andile Jali who operated with Mokoena, Rivaldo Coetzee and Surprise Ralani.

For Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane, he sprang a surprise by leaving SA attacker Percy Tau on the bench and he only introduced him at the beginning of the second half for Taher Mahmoud.

The first real chance of the match came after seventeen minutes through Hamdy Fathy whose dangerous close range header ricocheted off the back of defender Brian Onyango for safety.

One of the moments of the early exchanges saw Moroccan referee Rédouane Jiyed show Mokwena a red card after 30 minutes, forcing the Sundowns co-coach to watch the rest of the match from the stands.

On the stroke of halftime, Jali hacked down Taher Mohammed on the edge of the box and Mweene dealt with the resultant free-kick that was taken by Ali Maaloul.

The closest Sundown came to scoring was after 51 minutes when Lyle Lakay’s speculative shot from the left bounced off the upright even though it looked like Al Ahly goalkeeper Yasser Ahmed had it covered.

Another chance went begging just before the hour mark when Mokoena misplaced his pass that was intended for Peter Shalulile even though he could have taken the shot himself.

Moments later, Lakay brought the best out of ‘keeper Yasser Ahmed with a thunderous left-footed shot from outside the box but Morena had the final say four minutes from time.