Sundowns, Wydad build slender semifinal leads at home
The African Football League semifinals are balanced on a knife edge after Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco built 1-0 first-leg leads at home on Sunday.
A snap long-range shot by Thapelo Maseko on 52 minutes that took goalkeeper Mohamed el Shenawy by surprise brought Sundowns victory over Al Ahly of Egypt in Pretoria.
Hicham Boussefiane was the match-winner in Casablanca against Esperance of Tunisia with his cross eluding goalkeeper Moez Ben Cherifia after 58 minutes and landing in the corner of the net.
The return matches in the inaugural edition are scheduled for Rades and Cairo on Wednesday with everything to play for as the four teams chase a four million dollar first prize.
Unlike Europe, who scrapped the away-goal rule in club competitions from the 2021-2022 season, Africa continues to use it, adding to the intrigue ahead of the return matches.
When Sundowns and Ahly clashed at the CAF Champions League group stage last March in Pretoria, the South Africans triumphed 5-2.
But there was little chance of a repeat scoreline as Ahly restricted Sundowns to just a few scoring chances in the opening half.
Poor control robbed captain Themba Zwane of a close-range shooting chance and El Shenawy made a spectacular one-hand save to push away a Maseko header.
When Ahly surrendered possession cheaply soon after halftime, Maseko turned sharply and scored with a shot into the corner from outside the box.
PENALTY APPEAL
A Teboho Mokoena header rebounded off the crossbar in added time after Ahly had a penalty appeal rejected when former Sundowns star Percy Tau fell following a challenge.
Both coaches were relatively satisfied after the latest episode in one of the great recent African club rivalries.
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