Mamelodi Sundowns denied again as CAF glory slips through their fingers

The flirting game must continue unabated for Mamelodi Sundowns. The Brazilians must keep courting the CAF Champions League – as their former coach Rulani Mokwena once suggested – until the belle of continental football agrees to walk down the aisle.

She agreed to the lobola negotiations this time around, but the uncles baulked at the offer for their niece, leaving Sundowns to return home and strategise once more. It is a painful way to be rejected, but they’ll be encouraged by the fact that they were at least allowed through the gate.

Sundowns’ 3–2 aggregate defeat by Pyramids FC in the final of Africa’s premier club competition will have stung more than previous near-misses, which saw them knocked out in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. This will surely feel even more painful than that 4–1 defeat to Al Ahly back in 2001, when they were thoroughly played off the park in the second leg, having drawn 1–1 at home – just as was the case this time around.

This defeat, as they will realise when they inspect the wreckage at June 30 Stadium, was largely self-inflicted. The opening goal they conceded was a gift – Grant Kekana, inexplicably, passed the ball to Fiston Mayele of all players, when a simple clearance would have sufficed.

The Congolese forward is a supreme goal-poacher and, unsurprisingly, he made no mistake, slotting home his ninth of the campaign to claim the golden boot with ease.

Even before the ball entered the Sundowns box, Mayele had been allowed to launch a dangerous move down the right and combine with Atto, who was then given ample space to deliver what appeared to be an innocuous cross – until Kekana’s tame clearance turned it into a lethal assist.

Sundowns should have equalised before the break thanks to the genius of Lucas Ribeiro, who threaded a sublime through-ball to set up Tashreeq Matthews one-on-one with Mahmoud El Shenawy. But instead of lobbing the advancing goalkeeper, Matthews tried to slide it past him, only for the veteran – who was in the Zamalek team defeated by Sundowns in the 2016 final – to block with his outstretched left leg.

It was more a miss than a save, and the reactions of Ribeiro and the Sundowns bench said it all – the Brazilian hopping madly as the bench ran off with hands on their heads in disbelief.

Sundowns were made to pay early in the second half, as Sami made it 2–0. Once again, it was self-inflicted.

Substitute Divine Lunga needlessly conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area, and his teammates defended the resulting set piece like Sunday league amateurs, allowing Sami a free header for his first goal of this year’s Champions League.

When Iqraam Rayners pulled one back, hope was rekindled that Sundowns might clinch it on away goals. But, bafflingly, coach Miguel Cardoso took the striker off and introduced debutant Lebo Mothiba, when a goal might have boosted Rayners’ confidence and spurred him on.

Peter Shalulile was unlucky not to score – El Shenawy produced a brilliant save to deny the Namibian. But Sundowns only began playing with urgency late in the match, having been largely anonymous for most of it, despite being the better side on paper.

But to win football matches, you have to show up. And Sundowns simply did not on Sunday night.

Now, they must continue wooing the Champions League, in hope that she will eventually accept their proposal – just as she did back in 2016.