THE CAF Champions League semi-final clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Esperance pits together two of the competition’s most miserly defensive outfits.
South Africa’s Brazilians and the Blood and Gold of Tunisia will be hard-pressed to work their way past each other’s solid defensive walls over two legs in a quest to reach the ultimate stage of the continent’s premier club knockout competition.
The first encounter takes place on Saturday at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Rades, a suburb of Tunis (9pm kick-off, SA time).
The second leg will be held at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria next Friday (8pm kick-off).
Over the 10 matches that they have both played to reach the semi-finals, the two teams have jointly let in a paltry four goals – the two sides incredibly each conceding in just one match.
Sundowns lost 1-0 at TP Mazembe in the group stage, while Esperance were shock 3-1 losers away to Al Hilal in neutral Tanzania, which was also in the round robin phase.
Except for those matches, it was clean sheets all the way for the 2016 champions from South Africa and the four-time champions from north Africa.
Now, if the two teams are so evenly matched defensively, what is will separate them and decide who reaches the final? It has to be their ability to find the opposition net, right?
And here, Rulani Mokwena’s team appear to have the upper hand, with Sundowns having scored against all but one of their five opponents en route to this stage.
The South African champions played out goalless draws home and away against Tanzania’s Young Africans, whom they beat via the penalty spot in the quarter-finals.
Home and Away, your support keeps us going Masandawana! Thank you 💛👆#Sundowns #DStvPrem pic.twitter.com/gCPH3c8vap
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) April 16, 2024
They also failed to score against Pyramids at home and TP Mazembe away, but found the net in the reverse matches.
Overall, Sundowns have scored 13 goals in their 10 matches, with Namibian marksman Peter Shalulile their leading scorer with just two, which places him joint fifth on this season’s overall list.
That tally of 13 is almost double the number of Esperance’s strikes, the Tunisians have found the opposition net a mere seven times.
They have played out goalless draws on five occasions, that’s half their matches.
And unlike Sundowns, who registered 4-0 and 3-0 wins en route to this stage, Esperance have not scored more than twice in any of their matches.
It looks good for Sundowns on paper, right?
But as it is usually said, statistics are nothing more than numbers that have little or no effect on the outcome of football matches.
Meanwhile, Masandawana announced on their social media channels that they arrived in Tunis yesterday afternoon.
Touchdown In Tunisia 👋 Thank you for the warm welcome! 🇹🇳👆#Sundowns #TotalEnergiesCAFCL pic.twitter.com/aXwJOukU26
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) April 17, 2024