Cape Town - Cape Town City took a hammering on home turf from the visiting Angolan side Petro de Luanda who ran out 3-0 winners in their Caf Champions League second preliminary round, first leg clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors led 1-0 at halftime, much to the delight of the small contingent of Angolan fans who are Cape Town-based and offered vocal support to their fellow countrymen.
City was a pale shadow of the team that defeated the Congolese side Otoho d'Oyo 2-0 on aggregate in the first preliminary round.
Both teams started cautiously and play was restricted largely to central areas not far beyond the halfway line.
City slowly gained the initiative, and they managed several attacking sorties deep into the visitors' half. Marc van Heerden joined the attack around the 15th-minute mark and exposed gaps in the opposition’s defence. He managed a feed to the unmarked Venezuelan striker Darwin González, but his parting flew high over the crossbar.
Moments later, Petro De Luanda transferred play to the opposite end, and they created a scoring chance for winger Anderson Cruz after a penetrative raid down the right flank. After City’s defence failed to deal with the goalmouth cross, the ball fell kindly to the unmarked Cruz who hashed his scoring attempt.
City's midfield was doing some sterling work and two excellent scoring chances emerged. However, each time Petro De Luanda goalkeeper Hugo Marques, formerly of City and last season's 'PSL Goalkeeper of the Year' City, saved superbly.
Just past the half-hour mark Petro De Luanda produced an attack down the centre and made their way goalward on the back of crisp inter-passing. The Brazilian Gleison Moreira rounded off superbly with a low shot from an acute angle and City keeper Darren Keet was left high and dry.
City produced a strong finish to the first half but were unable to crack the opposition's defence, well-marshalled by Marques.
When second-half play started, City were quick out of the blocks and came close to scoring. However, the Angolans waged a telling counter-attack which was thwarted in the City goalmouth where they were awarded a penalty. Another Brazilian, Tiago Leal, stepped up and calmly slotted past Keet.
Fourteen minutes later, Petro De Luanda staged a strong down raid on the left flank and City failed to contain the threat. Once the ball was worked into the goalmouth Leal, the leading goalscorer in Angola's domestic league, pounced to score his second goal to give his side a 3-0 lead.
Cameroonian Brice Ambina, the City midfielder, was given his marching orders 10 minutes from the end after he picked up a second yellow card.
The return leg will be played next Friday at The Estádio 11 de Novembro in Talatona, Angola. With a three-goal advantage, the Angolans are well-placed to reach the group stages of the Caf Champions League.
IOL Sport