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Black Sunday for SA clubs
12/05/2008 09:52 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Mamelodi Sundowns' African dream ended for the second successive year at the third round of the prestigious African Champions League.
Downs won the battle but lost the war against Sudanese champions Al Hilal.
Their 1-0 win over Al Hilal at Atteridgeville's Super Stadium on Sunday was not enough for the Brazilians to progress to the quarter-finals of the continent's most prestigious club competition.
Downs went down 4-3 on aggregate having lost 4-2 in Khartoum two weeks ago in the third round first leg tie.
It was a Black Sunday for South African sides. Platinum Stars who had beaten five times Champions League winners Al Ahly 2-1 in their home leg went down 2-0 at the Cairo Stadium in their Champions League third round second leg clash.
But it was worse for Absa Premiership hopefuls Ajax Cape Town who crashed out of the African Confederations Cup 6-5 on aggregate losing to Mount Cameroon. Ajax won the first home leg of this second round tie 5-1 but reportedly sent a reserve team to Cameroon and on Sunday were thumped 5-0 in the away leg in Cameroon.
Downs coach Trott Moloto was disappointed, but realistic afterwards and refreshingly offered no excuses or blamed anyone. He conceded his players were a little jaded after a long, hard season. They could not call on that little extra needed to score that second goal that would have levelled the tie but given Downs victory on the away goal rule.
Restart
Said Moloto: "The plan was to go at Al Hilal from the opening whistle. I figured they would be on the defensive. The plan was to get more bodies into the opposition penalty area and keep them under pressure and get that all important first goal. We failed in the first half. The plan did not work as I had hoped. We had possession and were on top but failed to score."
Things looked up when after a pep talk at halftime. Downs came out firing and went 1-0 ahead within two minutes of the restart when Surprise Moriri netted.
Said Moloto: "That should have been the signal to go for the kill and get the second goal. But we tried and had our opponents under pressure but could not get the vital breakthrough.
I am disappointed but it is not the end of the world. We still have done well and have the Nedbank Cup final in two weeks to look forward to and try and finish second in the league (Absa Premiership)."
The quietly spoken, former Bafana Bafana head coach disclosed he was annoyed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Al Hilal especially their goalkeeper Elmuz Mahjoub.
Said Moloto: "I realise a lot was at stake. But I would not like to think this team (Al Hilal) will go the final. They upset me by the way the wasted time and the ref allowed them to get away with this type of gamesmanship that is not welcome in soccer."
Spoiling tactics
Moloto had a valid point. Mahjoub in particular was a spoiler. He took unreasonably long to take goal kicks and was eventually booked late in the match by the Eritrean referee Emmanuel Eyob.
Al Hilal spoiling tactics were aimed at upsetting Downs attacking rhythm and they worked.
Life goes on for Downs ,despite club owner Patrice Motsepe's unhappiness that his side failed again.
Moloto will now focus on the remaining two league matches this week and the cup final date against First Division outfit Mpumalanga Black Aces at the Johannesburg Stadium on 24 May - which will bring down the curtain on the Premier Soccer League season.
Downs, the defending Premiership champions need to finish runners up if they hope to compete in the 2009 African Champions League.
The PSL Champions and runners up are automatically invited to play in the continent's premier knockout club event.
Downs play Platinum Stars at Rustenburg's Olympia Park on Thursday and end their Premiership programme with their last fixture against Free State Stars at the Super Stadium on Sunday.
Said Moloto: "We will be gunning for six points and give ourselves every chance to get back into Africa next year. But we also have the Cup final which I will also be focusing on. There is plenty of work ahead during the next two weeks and we will simply have to put the disappointment of losing in the Champions League behind us. I want to finish the season by winning the cup and as high as we can in the league."
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