Mamelodi Sundowns will be involved in yet another bruising encounter against Africa’s Club of the Century Al Ahly, at the Loftus Stadium this afternoon.
The Brazilians just come from another exasperating two-legged quarterfinal bout against Angola’s Petro de Luanda, in the African Football League (AFL) where they advanced to the semifinals via 2-0 aggregate victory.
It’s not only the Red Devils they will be worried about, there’s also the Percy Tau factor – the former Sundowns forward is now in the books of Al Ahly and he proved a point the last time the two sides met in the CAF Champions League in March.
Tau, who is a Sundowns product, underlined his quality with a brilliant goal when the Mamelodi side clobbered Al Ahly 5-2.
Sundowns’ participation in the AFL is really taking its toll on the squad.
They are also limping with injuries, something that is giving head coach Rhulani Mokwena a headache. Key players Lucas Ribeiro, Peter Shalulile and Thapelo Morena are doubtful for today’s clash.
The DStv Premiership champions have been trying to topple Al Ahly in recent years. However, they have come short, with the north Africans managing to preserve their status as the top team on the continent.
“I pray every night for God to perform a miracle. My prayer to Him is to bring back Ribeiro, Shalulile and Morena as soon as possible, because they make a big difference, but we have to give compliments to the rest of the players,” said Mokwena.
Besides the injury setback, Mokwena stated he was looking forward to what would be an interesting and entertaining encounter against Africa’s club of the century.
“An Al Ahly fixture is always interesting. They have got really good players. We will do our best to try to win the game,” he said.
Al Ahly coach Marcel Koller has since expressed his satisfaction after reaching the semifinals.
“We had many big chances that could have changed the final result [against Simba] but we kept missing them. We cannot keep on missing those chances and we are working on that.”
