Mamelodi Sundowns came back from a soccer grave to keep their CAF Champions League hopes alive with a never-say-die, nerve-jangling 2-2 draw against defending champions al-Ahly in the first-leg, third-round clash at Loftus on Saturday night.
It is not a score line the Brazilians would have accepted with any degree of satisfaction had it been offered to them by a footballing genie before the kick-off — considering the second leg takes place at what is considered an impregnable Ahly fortress in Cairo.
However, in the prevailing circumstances in which Sundowns were trailing 2-0 after 78 minutes and with their dream of African glory looking dead and buried before Oscar Ntwagae and Jose Torrealba scored late-headed goals, the ultimate excitement and joy in the Pretoria club’s camp over the result was both reasonable and understandable.
”Al-Ahly are beatable,” exclaimed Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund afterwards, ”even in Cairo. We can now go to Egypt with a fighting chance, knowing we only have to win the game to qualify for the competition’s last-eight, round-robin stage.”
Ironically, it was what appeared a glaring tactical blunder by Igesund that started Sundowns’ problems in the first place.
With regular right-back Vuyo Mere suspended, the Sundowns coach opted to switch from a traditional 4-4-2 formation that had taken the team through 16 undefeated games to a 3-5-2 format — and it immediately seemed to unbalance the line-up and make the Premier Soccer League champions and current runaway log leaders vulnerable in defence.
Josta Dladla on the right side of midfield appeared to lack the experience to funnel back to assist the three-man defence, and it was this shortcoming that enabled canny Egyptian international Mohamed Barakat to run on to a precise through-pass and float the ball past on-rushing Sundowns goalkeeper Calvin Marlin for the opening goal.
Al-Ahly’s water-tight defence and perceptive counter-attacks kept them in control for the first three-quarters of the game and Angolan international Flavio emphasised this superiority with a swerving, long-range goal from 30m that curled into the roof of the net after confounding Marlin.
Al-Ahly at this stage made what is invariably a cardinal mistake in soccer — concentrating solely on negative defending instead of pursuing their effective and controlled counter-attacking sorties — and it opened a gap for Sundowns to stage what proved a heroic recovery in the end.
With the fat in the fire, Igesund, to his credit, resorted to an all-out attacking approach while bringing on two extra strikers — and with Al-Ahly back-pedalling, the ploy worked.
First full-back Ntwagae in 79th minute and then Torrealba in the 85th minute struck with swooping, close-range headers that paved the way for Sundowns to make a grand finish — and almost bring the house down with a late winner. — Sapa