Sundowns come short in CAF Champions League final

News24

2 days ago

Sundowns' defence failed to deal with easy balls in the box
Rayners' goal was not enough for Sundowns.
Coach Cardoso loses the second successive CAF final.
It was a case of so near yet so far for Mamelodi Sundowns, as they failed at the last hurdle of the CAF Champions League. The South African champions lost a game they should have won easily had they defended well at the end and taken their chances in front of goal.
They missed the opportunity of being awarded the trophy by their former chairperson, Patrice Motsepe, who is now the CAF president.
Despite launching a late onslaught, Sundowns still went 2-1 down to Pyramids of Egypt in the second leg of the final on Sunday. They lost the two-legged final 3-2 on aggregate after the two teams played to a 1-all draw at Loftus a week ago.
In the process, the Egyptians lifted their maiden Champions League trophy, denying the Brazilians a second star.
Needing a victory or a high-scoring draw to lift the trophy, Sundowns started on the bright side, putting the hosts on the back foot from the start of the game. However, they were undone by poor defending at the back when Grant Kekana's weak clearance fell on the path of Fiston Mayele, who beat Ronwen Williams with a low shot.
Sundowns should have gone to the break level, but Tashreeq Matthews squandered a golden opportunity when he failed to find the back of the net on the stroke of halftime.
The hosts increased their lead in the 56th minute when Ahmed Sawy's low header beat Williams from a free kick.
Iqraam Rayners pulled one back for Sundowns with about 20 minutes left on the clock, which made for an interesting end of the game.
Knowing that a draw would be enough to lift the trophy, Sundowns threw everything at Pyramids and twice came close to levelling matters. However, Pyramids hung on until the final whistle.