Thapelo Morena, Kennedy Mweene shine as Mamelodi Sundowns humble Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly

Johannesburg - Substitute Thapelo Morena was the hero when he scored the winner to help Mamelodi Sundowns beat Al Ahly 1-0 in a CAF Champions League group stage match at the Al Saalam Stadium on Saturday night.

This was arguably the most hotly anticipated match of the competition this week, given what was at stake. Pitso Mosimane meeting his former side Sundowns, the team he led to multiple trophies before his move to Al Ahly in 2020.

Mosimane was coming up against three coaches, his former assistants Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena who also had Steve Komphela. But he competed with two for the better part of the game after Mokwena was sent off.

With Mosimane having won the African crown twice with African Kings Al Ahly and once with Sundowns, he’s out for a fourth crown. But he hasn’t had the best of starts in the group stage after drawing 0-0 with Al Hilal away before losing at home to Sundowns.

For the Brazilians, though, it was a perfect night against their former coach as they extended their lead in Group A to seven points after three games. Their two-week long camp in Egypt, having also played Al-Merrikh here, proved to be fruitful.

On paper, Sundowns had a better start to the year compared to Al Ahly after winning three games and drawing two in five matches. The Eagles, on the other hand, had won three games, drawn one and lost one in five matches as well.

But coming into the game of this magnitude statistics didn’t count for much. It was about the team that had the energy and mental capacity to win. However, the odds favoured the home side – despite that disappointing draw to Al Hilal.