Al Ahly Lose to Mamelodi Sundowns
Al Ahly’s football first team lost to Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 in Matchday 3 of the CAF Champions League group stage at Cairo International Stadium on Saturday.
First Half
The first half kicked off with the Red Eagles pushing forward to score the opener in the early minutes of the match.
In the sixth minute, we were awarded a free-kick at the edge of the box. Ali Maaloul tried to send a cross inside the box, but the ball went directly to the goalkeeper’s hands.
In the 18th minute, Maaloul sprinted down the left flank and sent a sensational cross inside the box. Hamdy Fathy blasted a strong header, but the keeper deflected the ball away to a corner kick.
Four minutes later, Dieng found a poor clearance at the edge of the visitors’ box, and then fired a strong shot, but his efforts went to a goal kick.
In the final minutes of the first half, we upped our pressure to score the opener, but the opponent’s defenders stood their ground and blocked all of our attempts.
Second Half
The second half kicked off with Pitso Mosimane, our head coach, using his bench, as Percy Tau joined the match instead of Taher Mohamed Taher.
We pushed forward after the break to score the opener and in the 47th minute, we had another scoring chance.
Abdelkader sent a brilliant back-heel pass to Maaloul in the left flank. Maaloul then sent a ground cross inside the opponent’s box. Another poor clearance from the keeper found Abdelkader, but his shot was blocked by the defenders of Mamelodi Sundowns.
In the 60th minute, Amr El Soulia sent a sensational pass to Tau inside the box, who converted the ball into the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out due to an offside.
We kept pushing forward to score the opener, but the opponent’s defenders once again managed to keep their net clean.
Mosimane made two more substitutions, as Abdelkader and Aliou Dieng left the pitch for Hossam Hassan and Hussien El Shahat.
Against the game flow, Thapelo Morena scored a goal in the 85th minute to make it 1-0 for Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Red Eagles kept pushing forward to equalize the score, but all our attempts were blocked by Sundowns’ defenders until the referee blew his final whistle.
