Friday the 13th for all its negative connotations associated with tragedy could not get in the way of the continent’s club football competition quarter final match pitting Tshwane giants Mamelodi Sundowns and Bamako favorites Stade Malien of Mali.
Masandawana played host in the capital Pretoria/Tshwane to Stade Malien who were impressive in the group stages where they topped a group that had Tunis giants Esperance of Tunisia, Dar es Salaam heartthrob Simba SC of Tanzania and Luanda giants Petro de Luanda of Angola.
A humdinger of a match was on the cards considering the group from which they had come out as winners (Stade Malien) with Masandawana making their 8th straight last 8 berth, and the Mamelodi Sundowns faithful did not disappoint coming out in their thousands to make the most of a Friday night outing at Loftus Versfeld stadium.
With Portuguese tactician Miguel Cardoso and his Sundowns charges on a roll of late with the title race heating up between them and the buccaneers Orlando Pirates, the quarter final first leg would not have come at a better time.
The match began with the Pretoria giants looking to assert themselves but looked sloppy for the first 20 minutes leaving the gaffer frustrated, but the more they settled the more they looked like the Mamelodi Sundowns that plays with flair, and precision.
Sundowns goalie Ronwen Williams had very little to do as Sundowns’ last line was proving to high a wall to breach for the Malian side.
It was until the 34th minute when Arthur Sales who in the 22nd minute had found a running Tashreeq Matthews on the left side of the box with an exquisite pass, who beat the last man but couldn’t get his effort past the keeper, just after the center circle in the opposition’s half delivered a defense splitting pass into the box that found an on running Khuliso Mudau who made no mistake with his effort and the Brazilians were 1nil to the good.
The goal had to await VAR check as the assistant had flagged offside, and after verification was confirmed, the Brazilians celebrated and went into the break leading by a goal to nil. The first goal was a promise of what would follow in the 2nd half ,as after the restart 9 minutes on Nuno Santos who was having a stellar of a game taking turns with Sales to give expensive passes, that left the Stade Malien defense at sixes and sevens, from the left side delivered a cross that found Columbian Brayan Leon who timed his run well between 2 defenders perfectly receiving the ball and made it 2nill in the 54th minute.
Mamelodi Sundowns were really firing on all cylinders and kept coming at the Stade Malien goal, and Igraam Rayners who started on bench came you knew Sundowns were not done yet scoring, and Nuno Santos again from the right side delivered a cross that Rayners made no mistakes with to make it 3nil.
VAR had to come in again and the goal stood, capping a dominant performance from the Brazilians with not even one player putting a foot wrong, from Jayden Adams and Teboho Mokoena in the heart of midfield, to the ever-reliable wing backs Aubrey Modiba, Khuliso Mudau to Nuno Santos and Arthur Sales with their match winning passes, to Leon and Rayners with their goals that made the difference, Mamelodi Sundowns showed why they belong in the champions league, and they take that advantage to Bamako for the 2nd leg encounter.
Coach Cardoso was delighted with the performance of his charges and thanked the supporters for coming in to cheer their team painting the Loftus Versfeld yellow, and to his critics the performance from last night silenced them.
