Despite bottling their lead and conceding a goal right at the death, Mamelodi Sundowns’ CAF Champions League dream is still very much alive and intact, as they head to Cairo this coming Sunday with a slight disadvantage in their quest to bag the elusive second continental star.
Sundowns played to a disappointing 1-1 draw that still feels like a defeat against Egyptian outfit Pyramids FC during their Champions League first leg encounter at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Pyramids equalised exactly on the 93rd minute of the four minutes stoppage time through Walid Elkarti and cancelled Lucas Ribeiro Costa’s second half wonder strike.
That goal may have brought flashbacks from the semi-final shocker against Wydad Casablanca to many, when Mothobi Mvala scored an own goal in the last-minute to cut their road to the final short.
Sundowns now go to Egypt for the second leg this Sunday with an away-goal disadvantage, since the away-goal rule still applies. Pyramids will without a shadow of a doubt give them a serious run for their money in their backyard, and the Egyptians showed it against Orlando Pirates, when they came from behind, not once but twice, to shatter their Champions League dream.
Their well-travelled coach, Krunoslav Jurčić, said this two-legged final is the biggest game of his career, and that was visible yesterday as he was jumping up and down and highly animated on the dugout.
“This is the biggest match of my career, and this is enough motivation that I will do everything I can to ensure that we win in these two matches,” Jurčić said.
His opposite number, Miguel Cardoso, left the pitch looking defeated, and understandably so as no one in that packed stadium saw that sucker punch coming.
However, the Portuguese mastermind will have to use his experience from last season’s final with Esperance against Al Ahly coming in handy.
Building up to the game, the Sundowns players, Ronwen Williams, Aubrey Modiba and Themba Zwane, to be more specific, did not hold back on how hungry they were to get their hands on the new-look Champions League trophy and add a second continental star to their jersey.
“I think this time is an opportunity to get the last star, and I believe we have a team that is capable of doing it,” Zwane said.
Said Williams: “Now it feels real… it is setting in; it’s here now and it is showtime. My captain Mshishi [Zwane] deserves that honour to lift it, and we can’t wait to get our hands on the new trophy.”
Modiba, who was also part of the Sundowns team that came close, yet so far, in reaching the final back-to-back, expressed the importance of emulating the 2016 generation.
“We have been knocking and flirting with it, and we are finally in the final. We just want that joy they had in 2016. We want to bring back the happiness and positivity going forward because I think we are on the right track now,” Modiba added.
The trio and co now have one last chance to make their dream a reality in Cairo but they will have to put out a much better performance than they did yesterday.
