The ancient Egyptian Al-Ahly complicated the task of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the African Champions League in football, after suffering a severe loss at Mamelodi Sundowns, South Africa, 5-2, on Saturday, in the fourth stage of the group stage, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
And Al-Ahly’s balance froze at four points from four matches in the second group, which was issued by Sun Downs, with ten points, compared to 9 for the Sudanese Hilal. Sundowns, who tied 2-2 with Al-Ahly in the first leg, secured their qualification for the quarter-finals, to join Moroccan Raja.
Al-Ahly, the record holder for the number of times to win the continental title (10), has two matches left with Coton Sport of Cameroon, bottom of the standings without points, and Al-Hilal, so that the fate of the Cairo team will not be in his hands after stumbling in three matches so far.
Scored for the Chilean Marcelo Allende (4), Themba Zwane (24), Tebuho Mokoena (40) and Namibian Peter Shaluleli (72 and 88), and for Al-Ahly Mohamed Sharif (13) and South African Percy Tao (61).
Al-Ahly coach Marcel Koller said that his team wanted to take risks in the second half and come back after being 3-1 behind. “I think we did not deserve to win today against a big team like Sundowns.”
He added, “We were very bad in the first half, and in the second we wanted to take a risk and return to the result, but Sundowns took advantage of the mistakes with counterattacks, scored goals and held Al-Ahly’s position in the group.”