JOHANNESBURG – When TP Mazembe take on CF Mounana in an away clash out in Libreville on Sunday, SuperSport United will be crossing their fingers so that the travelling side fail to produce a win.
And that’s because a win will see the Caf Confederation Cup defending champions swap places with Matsatsantsa a Pitori, who are second on the Group D standings with a mere point ahead of Mazembe with a game to go.
SuperSport United failed to top their group following a draw away from home against Horoya AC in Conakry, Guinea on Saturday night.
In the first period, SuperSport struggled to unlock their opponents in the final third.
Horoya stood their ground quite firmly, and during one set-piece approaching the halftime break, nudged and pushed their opponents inside the box in an attempt to provoke and get them out of the game.
Those tactics did not work as SuperSport did not give in to those mind games, while they continued pressing forward in search of goals.
Being aware of the fact that the travelling side were not intimidated by them, Horoya made sure that they were also clean in their defensive structure to avoid conceding a goal, going into the halftime break.
Horoya also created a decent amount of scoring chances during the first period. However, each time they did that, either goalkeeper Ronwen Williams or his defensive line were alert enough to hold them at bay.
In the 60th minute, Yacouba Mando produced a blistering run into the box to fire in a powerful shot towards goal.
However, the ball went disappointingly wide as SuperSport’s backline remained ball-watching when he took it.
Three minutes later, SuperSport’s caretaker coach Kaitano Tembo introduced current Confederation Cup leading goal-scorer Jeremy Brockie for Kingston Nkhatha to help out in the final third.
However, Brockie also found it very difficult to operate upfront as Nkhatha did against the leaders of Group D, who were more than determined not to concede in this tie.
In the next and final group fixture, SuperSport will lock horns with CF Mounana at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.