ONWARD Miguel Cardoso's strategic brilliance guided Mamelodi Sundowns to a goalless draw against Esperance, securing their place in the CAF Champions League semi-finals with dominant possession and passing accuracy. Picture: BackpagePix
Image: BACKPAGEPIX
A shrewd tactical performance against hosts Esperance on Tuesday in Rades, Tunis, allowed Mamelodi Sundowns to book their spot in the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.
Holding a slender 1-0 from the first leg, the second encounter ended goalless as the visitors advanced by the smallest of margins.
While fan violence stole headlines in the first leg at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria last week, football at least took centre stage for the return fixture at the Olympic Stadium in the North African nation.
Though Sundowns were able to weather an early storm with a surge from Esperance, Ronwen Williams pulled off a vital save in the opening exchanges.
After that, Sundowns led by Miguel Cardoso worked their way into the game after the coach’s two changes to the lineup - Divine Lunga and Arthur Sales in for Aubrey Modiba and Iqraam Rayners - began to take effect.
It meant that Sundowns actually had more possession over the 90 minutes, with 54% of the ball in front of a packed 60,000-seater stadium.
That led to Sundowns delivering more passes with 438 compared to the 355 of Esperance.
Sundowns’ passing was also more accurate with 82% to the 74 of the hosts.
Though the hosts had more shots on goal with nine to the Sundowns’ eight, both sides only had two efforts on target.
There was one heart-stopping moment just after the hour mark though. Achref Jabri beat Williams in the Sundowns goal, only to have his effort ruled offside later by VAR.
Sundowns are now one step closer to that second CAF Champions League title, as they will face Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the semi-finals.