Sundowns back to winning ways in African Football League opener

Mamelodi Sundowns took a leaf out the South African national cricket team’s book by representing the country with pride in the quarterfinals of the African Football League (AFL). They recorded a 2-0 victory over Petro de Luanda in front of a packed Estadio 11 de Novembro in Angola on Saturday.

Marcelo Allende and Thapelo Maseko were on the scoresheet to give The Brazilians the win in the first leg encounter. The reverse fixture takes place on Tuesday with the winner set to qualify for the semifinals of the new competition.

As the country’s sole representative in the newly-formed AFL, Sundowns produced a great performance to emulate the Proteas, who had recorded an impressive 229-run victory over England in the ODI Cricket World Cup earlier in the day.

Sundowns came into the game low on confidence following back-to-back penalty shootout defeats to Orlando Pirates and TS Galaxy in the MTN8 final and Carling Knockout last 16 round respectively.

Rulani Mokwena thrust seven of his returning Bafana Bafana players back into the line-up with Abdelmounaim Boutouil, Siphelele Mkhulise, Junior Mendieta and Allende the only four to keep their place in the starting XI from the 5-4 penalty shoutout defeat Galaxy on Wednesday.

The first 20 minutes provided little in terms goalmouth action as both teams looked to be evenly matched and reduced each other to half chances. Ronwen Williams produced a brilliant point-blank save from a Guedes first time shot in what was the game’s first clearcut opportunity in the 26th minute.

Double penalty save

Petro squandered another wonderful opportunity to open the scoring after Mothobi Mvala gave away a penalty three minutes before the break. The Bafana defender caught Toro with a late tackle but Williams produced a double save to keep the scoreline goalless heading into the break

He first saved from Gilberto’s weak effort from 12 yards out before coming up with another fine stop from the resultant rebound, this time denying Guedes.

The Tshwane giants took control of the game in the second stanza and showed more intent going forward. Allende put his side ahead in the 68^th minute with a clinical finish inside the box, his second goal in as many matches.

Substitutes Gaston Sirino and Maseko combined to great effect with 10 minutes left on the clock to put the result beyond doubt. The latter timed his run to beat the offside trap and went pass the advancing goalkeeper to slot into an empty net to give side a 2-0 victory.