Young Africans SC and Mamelodi Sundowns played out to a draw in their 1st leg CAF Champions League quarter-final at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday evening.
Sundowns came into the tie against last season’s CAF Confederation Cup finalists as favourites after winning the inaugural African Football League title this season.
They’ve been tipped to go on to win their first title in the competition since 2016, but in Yanga they had a plucky opposition that was always going to be hard to break down in Dar es Salaam.
With over 70% possession in the first half, Sundowns didn’t quite create the amount of chances they would have liked, but neither did they concede much, with Ronwen Williams also playing the sweeper keeper role to perfection.
The home side, in the second half, started to play with more expression, with Stephane Aziz Ki showing glimpses of his brilliance, but on two occasions where he found himself within a goalscoring chance, he strayed beyond the high off-side line of Sundowns.
In the final 20 minutes, Clement Mzize and substitute Tapelo Morena spurned great chances to open the scoring at either end but neither showed the composure needed.
Sundowns will now host the Tanzanian Premier League champions next week Friday at Loftus Versfeld at 20h00.
