The great motherland’s elite club football competition the CAF Champions League has reached the semi-final stage with the 2nd legs of the quarter finals having been played on the 8th and 9th of April 2025.
With perennial protagonists such as Cairo giants Al Ahly, Bafana be Style Tshwane juggernauts Mamelodi Sundowns, the sea robbers Orlando Pirates, Al Hilal of Sudan, Esperance of Tunisia, MC Algiers of Algeria, Pyramids FC of Egypt and FAR Rabat of Morrocco the stage was set for enthralling encounters.
On Tuesday the 8th of April all eyes were on the 1st set of 2nd leg matches in Tunis where Esperance took on Mamelodi Sundowns looking to overturn 1nil 1st leg defeat in Pretoria a week earlier courtesy of a Peter Shalulile strike.
The Red devils Al Ahly carried 1nil lead to Sudan where they took on Al Hilal, and both encounters were cagey but filled with heart and grit as all teams were looking for a passage through to the semi-finals. In Tunis the match started with Esperance raging forward forcing a decisive save from Ronwen Williams from what looked like a goal bound strike. Mamelodi Sundowns played like warriors in front of a hostile crowd with Khuliso Mudau, Devine Lunga winning almost every duel on either side of the wingbacks from the waves of attacks Esperance were launching on Sundowns’ goal. A disciplined performance the Brazilians were putting on show with Chilean Marcelo Allende running the midfield like a true maestro coming close to opening the score with a beautiful effort that hit the upright post.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ goalie Williams was on song playing the sweeper goalie , the last man getting to every aerial ball into the box as the home side had to resort to long balls into the box as Sundowns’ defense was holding like a fortress with Kekana and Suarez in central defense. Sundowns would hold on, but it was not without some drama as Esperance thought they had equalized only for VAR to rule the goal offside. In Sudan Al Ahly were putting in a show just like Sundowns were doing holding on to their slender lead, until the 80th minute when they scored to all but secure the tie sealing a place in the last 4.
Orlando Pirates would host MC Algiers at Orlando stadium the next day whilst FAR Rabat played hosts to Pyramids in Morrocco with the latter carrying a 4-1 1st leg win in Cairo. Rabat tried to pull-off a comeback scoring as early as the 8th minute with the 2nd goal coming in the 82nd minute giving a nervy end to the encounter. With Orlando Pirates and Pyramids booking the final spots in the last 4, it gave the perfect billing to Africa’s elite club football competition as it is North versus South in the semi-final with Mamelodi Sundowns taking on Al Ahly and Orlando Pirates taking on Pyramids. Coincidentally Sundowns and Pirates are from the same league and so are Al Ahly and Pyramids which says a lot about their respective leagues, and it doesn’t get any better as we can have either an all-South African final or Egyptian.
Tshwane, Cairo and Soweto find themselves competing for football royalty on the continent, and football fanatics on the great motherland can’t wait to see how the encounters will playout, to culminate what has been an enthralling Caf champions league season.
