Downs burst into CCL last 8

Keeper Williams goes from villain to hero by saving late penalty

Al Hilal (0) 1

Mamelodi Sundowns (0) 1

Scorers: Hilal — Yousif Yagoub (72m) ; Sundowns — Khuliso Mudau (67m).

● Mamelodi Sundowns ended any lingering doubt about their qualification to the last eight of the Caf Champions League (CCL) when they played a 1-1 draw against Sudanese giants Al Hilal at the imposing Al Hilal Stadium in Omdurman, Sudan, yesterday.

Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams turned from villain to hero after saving a lastminute penalty that would have given the home side victory and a passage to the quarterfinals, locking 10-time African champions Al Ahly out of the knockout stages.

Williams had given Al Hilal an easy equaliser when he was dispossessed by Yousif Yagoub in the 72nd minute but denied the home side’s skipper a brace when he saved his spot kick at the death.

Khuliso Mudau gave Sundowns an unlikely lead when he tapped home Aubrey Modiba’s free kick in the 67th minute but a mistake by Williams gifted Yagoub.

Mudau, who was overlooked by Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos in his latest squad, followed Modiba’s long-range set-piece and stabbed home when Hilal keeper Ali Abdalla fumbled.

It was Williams’s cockiness inside his area that denied Sundowns a double over Hilal when he was robbed of the ball by Yagoub while trying to build from the back.

The draw took Sundowns’ points tally to 11 and they will be assured of qualifying as Group B winners if they beat wooden spooners Coton Sport of Cameroon in their last group match at home on March 31.

The draw leaves Al Hilal with the tough task of beating Ahly in their last match. Ahly can, like Hilal, also reach 10 points if they beat the Sudanese club in their last encounter in Cairo.

If Ahly beat Al Hilal, head-to-head and the goal difference between the two sides will come into play in deciding who joins Sundowns in the last eight. Al Hilal managed to beat Ahly 1-0 at home in February with the Congolese striker Makabi Lilepo scoring the winner.

Bafana Bafana striker and former Sundowns star Percy Tau inspired Ahly to a 4-0 win away to Coton Sport on Friday, scoring the fourth goal after providing two assists to the hat-trick hero Mahmud Kahraba.

The win, which took Ahly’s points to seven, came after Tau and his team had suffered a humiliating 5-2 defeat against Sundowns in Pretoria last week.

Unbeatren Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena will be aware that since winning the competition in 2016 Sundowns have only made the semifinals once (2018-2019) in seven attempts and will be looking to improve on that record before thinking of winning the competition.

Lilepo was again the most dangerous Hilal player in yesterday’s encounter, testing Sundowns’ goalkeeper at least three times in the first 45 minutes.

The match was the most physical Sundowns have played and Tebogo Mokoena received a yellow card that rules him out of the last match against Coton Sport.

Early this week Bafana coach Broos, who selected eight Sundowns players to the team that will face Liberia in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next week, commended Mokwena’s team for being consistent flagbearers for South African football in Caf competitions and urged other Premier Soccer League teams to up their standards.

Broos made a damning assessments of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, who have fallen far below dominant Sundowns.

The Brazilians, who are on their way to a sixth successive league championship, have eight players in Bafana: Williams, Thapelo Morena, Modiba, Grant Kekana, Mothobi Mvala, Mokoena, Themba Zwane and exciting striker Cassius Mailula.

“It is not good that teams like Chiefs and Pirates, who are top teams in this country ... we don’t have players from them. It is not good. Chiefs have been struggling. They are a little bit better now but they are not like the Chiefs of old.

“I was looking at the last five league championships that Sundowns won. Before it used to be a three points difference, but today is about 17 and 20 points.”

Broos said if Chiefs and Pirates are strong and can compete with Sundowns, who have a plan, he will have a bigger pool of players to choose from for Bafana.

“That will increase the quality of football because at the moment it is too easy for Sundowns. Sundowns have a plan, when you see the players who are coming to Sundowns they are always the same types of players.