Al Ahly in the driving seat after solid win over Mamelodi Sundowns

Al Ahly in the driving seat after solid win over Mamelodi Sundowns

Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane saw his team get the better of former club Mamelodi Sundowns with a 2-0 win in a Caf Champions League first leg quarter-final clash at the We Al-Ahly Stadium in Cairo on Saturday night.

The goals were scored midway through the first half and right at the end of the match by Mohamed Taher and Salah Mohsen respectively.

After the game had gotten off to an intense and high-tempo start, it was the South African side who had the first clear opening on goal and they were unlucky not to take the lead as Gift Motupa’s powerful header bounced back off the upright, following an in-swinging cross from Aubrey Modiba in the 22nd minute.

Moments later Motupa was again close with a header, which this time flashed inches wide of the far post.

Having survived those two near misses, Al Ahly swiftly took the ball up field and scored on the counter as a long ball out to the left wing found Taher, who cut inside Thapelo Morena before unleashing a venous curling shot from the edge of the box which flew past Denis Onyango and in at the far post.

Sundowns weren’t able to offer much in the way of a first half response – the only time they threatened on goal after that was when Morena skipped into the box and past a defender, only to be denied by goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy who rushed off his line very quickly to close down the angle.    

Masandawana started the second half with good purpose, although they were not able to create much in the way of goal scoring chances until the 59th minute when Mosa Lebusa drew a smart save from El Shenawy.

There were a few more chances soon after for Downs as Peter Shalulile sent a header wide in the 67th minute before Kermit Erasmus, on as a substitute for Gaston Sirino, was set up by Motupa but also had his shot saved by El Shenawy.

While the Brazilians didn’t do much to threaten the Al Ahly goal after that, a 1-0 away defeat still looked a fairly decent score ahead of next week’s return game in Pretoria.

But that unfortunately for the South Africans was not to be the case as they conceded a sucker second goal late in the game when Onyango misjudged a long, high cross from out on the right, which resulted in Mohsen sneaking in between the goalkeeper and Morena and nicking the ball before scoring in an empty net in the 89th minute.