Sundowns batter ten-man Belouizdad

Mamelodi Sundowns routed a ten-man CR Belouizdad on Sunday, on neutral territory at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Tanzania, winning 5-1 to take complete control of Caf Champions League Group B.

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Masandawana have won both their opening games in the group, while no one else has managed a victory after two matches, leaving the Tshwane giants already superbly-placed to reach the quarterfinals.

Sundowns made heavy weather of the first half, after taking an early lead through a Themba Zwane penalty, following an incident that saw defender Chouaib Keddad sent off for Belouizdad.

After the break, however, the men in yellow found their stride, and Peter Shalulile added another, before Zwane completed his brace, all inside the first ten minutes of the second half. Lebo Maboe  added another with 15 minutes on the clock, before Kermit Erasmus also fired in late on.

Sundowns got off the best possible start in Tanzania as a shot from Zwane was cleared off the line with his hand by Keddad.

The punishment was the double-whammy of a red card for Keddad and a penalty, which Zwane slotted into the net to put Masandawana 1-0 up.

After that, however, Sundowns battled to make their numerical advantage count. Thapelo Morena occasionally found some space to run into on the right edge of the box, but the quality on his crosses were not good enough.

Belouizdad, meanwhile, were a threat at the other end, and in the 35^th minute Denis Onyango had to be alert to stop an effort from Rayen Benderrouya.

The Brazilians didn’t heed the warning and just before half time, Amir Sayoud sprinted beyond the Sundowns defence and produced a superb dinked finish over Onyango to level the scores.

Morena got free again on the right inside the first minute of the second half, but blazed his effort out of play.

But Sundowns were back in front soon after as Lyle Lakay’s 48^th minute corner was powerfully headed in by Shalulile.

In the 55^th minute, Sundowns extended their lead as a lovely ball from Gaston Sirino found Zwane timing his run perfectly to round the ‘keeper and help the ball into an empty net.

There was still plenty of time for Sundowns to get more goals, and they did grab a fourth in the 75^th minute, Maboe firing home from the edge of the area, after being set up by Kermit Erasmus.

And in the final minute, it was five as Zwane set up Erasmus for a simple tap in.

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