Mamelodi Sundowns were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Hilal in the CAF Champions League group stage match in Omdurman, Sudan on Saturday. However, the Brazilians have already qualified for the knockout stages and the Sudanese squandered a big opportunity to join Masandawana in the next round when they missed a penalty kick in the 90th minute.
This means that Hilal now have a mountain to climb in their last match against Egyptian giants Al Ahly in Cairo. In the group’s other match played in Cameroon on Friday, Al Ahly of Egypt walloped Coton Sport 4-0 to revive their chances of qualifying for the next round. Mahmoud Kahraba scored a hat-trick and Percy Tau scored the other goal in the match.
Sundowns are topping the league with 11 points and will play their last match against Coton Sport, who are the whipping boys in the group. The game will be played in Tshwane. Hilal who are sitting on seven points will have to win or get a draw in Cairo, which will be extremely difficult. Ahly have four points and not a lot of teams have won against Ahly in Cairo and Hilal may have lost their ticket to the next round.
Khuliso Mudau opened the scoring for Sundowns in the 67th minute but their lead did not last long with Al Hilal equalising a few minutes later following a mistake from Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. Mohamed Abdelrahman capitalised and scored from close range.
In the dying minutes, Williams made amends when he rescued Sundowns from the claws of defeat after he saved a penalty kick that was awarded to the home team. Williams smothered the spotkick and gave the Sudanese a major blow in their quest to qualify for the knockout stages.
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