It was an uneventful Sunday evening for Mamelodi Sundowns at the Stade 26 du Mars when they recorded a 2-0 defeat against Malian outfit, Stade Malien in the second leg of the CAF Champions League. It is, however, the 2-3 aggregate in favour of Downs that saw them advancing to the semifinals.
The visitors were not even given time to settle at Stade 26 du Mars after the hosts made an early impact through a goal a minute into the encounter. Masandawana were caught cold on the left side as the Malian outfit bolstered the ball into the net through a headed effort.
The visitors had the ball possession but their Stade Malien counterparts were sweeping up at the back to deny them a scoring chance. When Masandawana eventually had their first opportunity at goal, it came from Nuno Santo with a half volley but the goalkeeper smacked it away.
No attacking visitation was coming from the Pretoria-based side as they looked a bit slower than usual. The number of stoppages during the opening half
Bafana Ba Style were making a lot of mistakes and the hosts pounced on them to take advantage of that. On the 40th minute, from an interception, Stade Malien took to the box. A cross was made in there but the connection was sloppy as the effort at goal hit the inner crossbar. They found the rebound and struck it to the far post to double their lead.
After the hosts scored the second goal, Masandawana started looking alive and with a sense of urgency. They were, however, out of time as they went to the interval trailing by two goals.
Bafana Ba Style looked livelier and aggressive in the second stanza, especially on the attacking phase. They came so close to finding their first goal through Santos but due to the many bodies of defence in the final third, they couldn’t get it right.
The hosts had an opportunity to score after the hour mark but Khuliso Mudau made an important challenge to clear the danger away.
On the 77th minute, Aubrey Modiba was sent off after a bad mistimed challenge. This forced coach Miguel Cardoso to make a change, introducing Divine Lunga for Santos just to keep the defence tight in the final stages of the encounter.
The hosts dug deep to find a third goal to level matters in terms of aggregate but the Downs defence was really tight and ensured no ball bypasses them. Despite losing this second leg, Masandawana will be advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League.