Johannesburg (dpa)
The South African Sun Downs repeated their victory over Al-Ahly of Egypt, and beat them 1-0 during the match that brought them together today, “Saturday”, in the fourth round of the first group matches in the African Champions League.
Sun Downs owes this victory to its player, Peter Shaluleli, who scored the game’s only goal in the 23rd minute.
Al-Ahly lost in the third round at home to Sun Downs with a clean goal as well.
With this result, Sun Downs raised its score to 10 points at the top of the standings to come close to qualifying for the quarter-finals, while Al-Ahly’s balance froze at four points in second place, equal with the Sudanese Al-Hilal and Al-Marrikh teams.
The start of the match came at a medium level, and Al-Ahly acquired the ball in the first minutes of the match, as its players relied on short passes, but failed to form any danger on the goal.
On the other hand, Sun Downs players relied on narrowing the spaces while launching attacks whenever he had the opportunity, yet he too failed to pose any danger to Al-Ahly’s goal, limiting the play to the midfield.
Play remained confined to the center of the field until the 22nd minute, which almost witnessed Sun Downs scoring the goal when Muthubi Mavala hit a powerful ball from outside the penalty area to hit the head of Yasser Ibrahim, Al Ahly defender, before hitting the crossbar and going out for a corner kick.
The corner kick was played inside the penalty area to hit Peter Shalolili’s thigh before the ball hugged the net, announcing Sun Downs’ advance with a clean goal in the 23rd minute.
After the goal, Al-Ahly pressed offensively in search of a goal, so that Sun Downs retreated to its midfield, relying on launching attacks whenever it had the opportunity.
Despite the presence of offensive attempts by the two teams, they failed to pose any danger to the other’s goal, so play was limited to the midfield until the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, with Sun Downs advancing with a goal.
With the beginning of the second half, Al-Ahly intensified its offensive attempts and put pressure on the Sun Downs players from the middle of their stadium in an attempt to score the equalizing goal. On the other hand, Sun Downs was forced to retreat to its midfield, relying on counter-attacks.
However, the two teams failed to pose any danger to the other’s goal, to limit play to the center of the field, until the 56th minute came, which witnessed a dangerous opportunity for Sun Downs when Lil Lakai hit a strong ball from outside the penalty area, but his ball crossed the crossbar by a few centimeters.
From a counterattack in the 63rd minute, Sun Downs almost scored the second goal when Peter Shalolili received the ball inside the penalty area to pass it to Hashem Domingo inside the penalty area to face Mohamed El-Shennawy, Al-Ahly goalkeeper, and hit the ground ball, but El-Shennawy turned it into a corner kick, but it was not used.
Al-Ahly’s attacking control continued in search of scoring the equalizer, but he failed to pose any danger to the Sun Downs goal, which almost came from a counterattack in the 73rd minute to score the second goal when Themba Zouani passed a through ball to Pavol Shafranko, who was singled out by Al-Shennawi, who shined and saved the ball. .
Al-Ahly responded in the 76th minute when Ahmed Abdel Qader fired a powerful ball from outside the penalty area, but his ball passed near the left post by a few centimeters.
Al-Ahly intensified its offensive attempts in the remaining time in search of scoring the equalizer, but it collided with a strong and organized defense on the part of the Sun Downs players to limit play to the midfield until the referee blew the whistle at the end of the match, with Sun Downs winning 1-0.
