Mamelodi Sundowns are the African-Asian-Pacific champions, following their 2-1 victory over Asian-Pacific winners, Al Ahli Saudi on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld. It is Nuno Santos’ brace that won the Brazilians the clash of the continents.
Tashreeq Matthews pulled the first shot of the game on the left but the soft effort was caught by the keeper on the near post.
On the 18th minute, Nuno Santos put Masandawana ahead with a glancing header. The ball had come from a long ball from Teboho Mokoena when Santos connected with it.
A minute later, a mistake at the back cost the hosts following an own goal. Ronwen Williams was able to clear the ball but the visitors found the rebound. Trying to block the second ball, it was met by his head and went past the goal line, levelling matters at Loftus.
Al Ahli came close to finding the back of the net after bypassing the Downs defence. The ball, however, went wide.
After the half-hour mark, Brayan Leon almost snatched back the lead for Downs but the keeper denied him.
Following a titanic tussle between the two sides, the teams went to the break with a goal apiece.
The visitors came back on fire, looking to pull one back but the Downs backline was equal at work to deny them a goal.
After a foul on Leon on the edge of the box, the hosts were awarded a free-kick. Taken by Aubrey Modiba, the ball found Ndamane who connected with it but his effort sailed over the bar.
Santos kept testing the keeper but the man between the sticks kept denying him until the 78th minute. Thabang Matuludi – who made his debut in Brazilian colours – had a nice placement into the box which found Santos who wasted no time and headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to snatch back the lead.
Masandawana tried to look for more goals but the two were enough to see them through to their quest to reach the Intercontinental Cup final.
