Mamelodi Sundowns take a 1-0 advantage after a first leg win in their CAF Champions League quarter-final at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday afternoon.
It was looking like a repeat of the semi-final last season when Esperance grinded to 1-0 wins over Masandawana to reach the final – where they lost to eventual winners Al Ahly.
As they frustrated the home side and their supporters, and much to the delight to the travelling Curva Sud in the far right of the stadium.
But Sundowns managed to compose themselves and as Miguel Cardoso said in the pre-match press conference, focused on being patient and the small details that could win the match.
And it was their talisman Peter Shalulile, who is closing in on becoming the all-time record scorer in the Premier Soccer League, that opened the scoring 10 minutes after the break.
It was clearly not part of the script for Taraji as they looked out of ideas to move forward with Sundowns, at times suffocating them by controlling the spaces in their own half and moving the ball more swiftly around the pitch to probe for the second.
The likes of Elias Mokwana, Yann Sasse and Youcef Belaili were made to feed off scraps and toiled away chasing the ball for longer periods that being on it, as Miguel Cardoso’s narrow 4-3-3 worked to perfection.
The win hands Sundowns an advantage to work with in the return leg in seven days time in Tunisia for a place in semi-final of Africa’s elite club competition.
