Sundowns have to overcome Petro Atletico to reach the Champions League final
Ntuthuko Maphumulo
Some teams make history, others are part of history, and Sundowns will be looking to add a new chapter to the history books of the African Champions League this weekend.
Only one team from Southern Africa has won the continent’s top trophy and that was Orlando Pirates in 1995. Before that Nkana Red Devils of Zambia were the only team from the region to have reached the final, losing to JSKabyile in 1990.
North and West African teams have dominated the competition, but this year’s tournament is sure to have one representative from the southern area in the final.
Sundowns face the daunting prospect of having to beat this year’s surprise package, Petro Atletico, convincingly at home in the semifinal first leg this weekend in order to take an advantage to Angola for the second leg.
The other semifinal pits El Ahly of Egypt against Esperance of Tunisia, setting up a North vs South battle in next month’s final.
Although Sundowns’ league form is woeful (they have yet to win a game and are second from bottom in the log), their cup form has been solid.
In their final African group match they overcame Nigerian team Julius Berger through a spectacular free kick taken from a few centimetres outside the 18-yard area by Bennet Mnguni in the last minutes of the game.
As the Nigerian team carried the hopes of their fellow countrymen a loss against Sundowns was not acceptable and 15 of the players were kicked out of the team.
Sundowns have already got inside information on Petro Atletico, as MD Natasia Tsichlas was match commissioner a few weeks ago when Petro Atletico lost 1-0 to Asec to advance to the semifinal.
No team that has reached the semifinals of the Champions League can be written off, and that includes first-timers Atletico, who have shown that they have got what it takes to become the champions of the continent.
But if Sundowns are to become the second South African team to lift this cup they will have to try in the space of a few weeks to regain the breath- taking and exhilarating football that won them three Premier Soccer league titles in a row.