Johannesburg - Mamelodi Sundowns have spectacularly entrenched their dominance of the domestic game this season and are runaway Premiership log-leaders by 19 points.
Their pre-eminence as South Africa's premier football force is further illustrated by the fact that at this stage of the season, they have scored 13 more goals than any other club. They average close to two goals per match.
They are equally outstanding in the 'against' column which shows that after 21 matches they have conceded seven goals. It is the only club with single digits, and it represents a figure of one goal for every three matches.
There are signs that the Tshwane giants are carrying this dominance, or at least parts of it into the continental arena while campaigning in the CAF Champions League. After three matches, Sundowns are the Group B log leaders with seven points ahead of Sudanese outfit Al-Hilal Omdurman who have six points, also after three matches.
The 10-time CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly who have one point are in third place, followed by the winless Coton Sport of Cameroon who have suffered two straight losses. These two teams have a match in hand.
Since Sundowns are based in South Africa, they have far and away the most gruelling travel schedule of the four teams. They have to travel the length of the African continent when playing the two North African sides Al Ahly and Al-Hilal Omdurman.
The other team, Coton Sport is based in central Africa and takes less flight time.
Their financial muscle has allowed them to ease this travel chore by using charted flights to these matches. Also, much to their advantage they have a huge squad and that means that with careful management, they do not have to send out overworked players onto the pitch.
On Saturday night, it seemed, they were shown lots of respect by Al Ahly who ran out in front of hordes of adoring raucous fans without their usual swagger. They started off effectively but without displaying an air of superiority.
Their penalty taker Mohamed Hany, it seemed, was overcome by the weight of expectation, and struck his parting shot from the 'spot' straight into goalkeeper Ronwen Williams' grateful hands.
Sundowns' gameplan worked well in the beginning as they absorbed all Al Ahly's pressure which came about after they sprung several attacks, mostly down the left flank. Sundowns' defence remained intact and instead, they stunned the crowd when they took a 34th-minute lead after a break-out down the same flank.
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Two second-half goals in the space of 13 minutes saw Al Ahly take the lead for the first time in the match and it looked like it would stay that way until the final whistle.
However, the impact off the bench is one area where Sundowns have been effective in domestic competition but Saturday night, they showed that can also produce a 'get out of jail free' card in the continental arena too.
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Thapelo Morena came off the bench and banged home the equaliser. He has been a prolific scorer for Sundowns in the Champions League. Since the 2019 season, he scored 10 goals and two of these have been against Al Ahly.
On the back of this performance, Sundowns must be regarded as out-and-out favourites to win the Group B competition.
IOL Sport