Downs learnt how to survive

Mamelodi Sundowns reached the final of the CAF Champions League in dramatic fashion. Njabulo Ngidi looks at that bumpy road to the final.

Today he looks at the qualifying rounds.

Johannesburg - It doesn’t take that long for coach Pitso Mosimane to pinpoint the exact moment when he saw that Mamelodi Sundowns can go all the way in the CAF Champions League. But in between that realisation and it coming true, there was heartbreak for Mosimane and his Brazilians.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s AS Vita deferred their continental glory dream to the CAF Confederation Cup when they beat Sundowns by an away goal.

In the Confederation Cup play-offs, Ghana’s Medeama dashed their dreams by also beating them by an away goal. Despite those two disappointments, Sundowns had gone further in the continent than they did last year. TP Mazembe knocked them out in the first round in a tightly contested match.

When Mazembe lifted the Champions League, their then coach Patrice Carteron said Sundowns were among their toughest opponents. That compliment and Sundowns’ dominance in the league, where they had gone 19 matches without a loss in all competitions, fuelled them when they started their campaign in Zimbabwe.

But that aura of invincibility was removed once they crossed the border, losing the first leg 1-0.

The loss dashed Sundowns’ ambition of breaking their own record of the longest unbeaten run that stood at 19 games.

The slender margin of that loss meant that the Brazilians had room to turn the match around in the return leg.

They did that ... at the death. Katlego Mashego converted a penalty in the referee’s optional time to make it 2-0 and help Sundowns avoid going to penalties.

It looked like that would break the deadlock as 90 minutes came up with Sundowns leading 1-0 and the match tied at 1-1 on aggregate. AC Leopards were Sundowns’ opponents in the first round.

They started the two-legged tie at home where they had to make the most of that advantage because Leopards’ Stade Denis Sassou Nguesso isn’t a field conducive for playing football.

Even cows wouldn’t graze on it. Goals from Keagan Dolly and Leonardo Castro, while Denis Onyango kept a clean sheet, gave Sundowns a comfortable lead to protect in Dolisie.

It’s in that trip that Mosimane saw what his team were made of.

“If you go to Dolisie (from Pointe-Noire), you travel for six hours in a bus,” Mosimane said. “The road is bumpy and mountainous. We played on a pitch that’s unbelievable.

“I remember (Soumahoro) Bangaly, you see how big he is?

“He was sleeping on a small bed, the one that you stretch out and can fold back, and his feet were dangling outside it.

“I said that if the boys can come out of here, then they can go all the way. From Pointe-Noire to Dolisie we were eating chips, biscuits and Coca-Cola (because the person who was supposed to give us food didn’t pitch). You can’t eat that for nutrition as a footballer. We went there and got the result (1-1 draw). We couldn’t leave straight after the match because all the flights were grounded because of the elections.

“We had no phones and no internet. We couldn’t communicate with our families for two days... We couldn’t complain about anything after that because it looked small in comparison. I said let’s go for it.”

A loss to Vita in the second round denied them an opportunity to go for it.

But Vita’s transgression, of playing a suspended Idrissa Traore in the preliminary round against Mafunzo, came back to bite them.

They were expelled and Sundowns took their place in the group stage. The nightmare ended when Sundowns’ dream of continental glory continued.

The match ended 2-2 on aggregate and Vita won on the away goal rule before being kicked out of the tournament.

Preliminary Round

Chicken Inn 1, Mamelodi Sundowns 0; Bulawayo, February 13

Sundowns 2, Chicken Inn 0; Pretoria, February 27

Sundowns won 2-1 on aggregate

First Round

Sundowns 2, AC Leopards 0;Pretoria, March 12

Leopards 1, Sundowns 1;Dolisie, March 19

Sundowns won 3-1 on aggregate