Early injuries and missed chances haunt Mamelodi Sundowns at home

At Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Mamelodi Sundowns were left disappointed after suffering a 3-1 defeat to USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup final at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday.

Sundowns were looking to win the title to add to the MTN8 and the Fifa African Asian Pacific Cup, but it was not to be, as the Algerian side had other ideas.

Despite dominating the match, Masandawana could not repeat their heroics when they defeated Al-Ahly of Saudi Arabia at the same venue in September to win the African Asian Pacific Cup. The defeat comes after their exit in the CAF Champions League preliminaries

Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and midfielder Teboho Mokoena made a return to the starting lineup after missing the previous matches due to injuries.

It was a contest between the winner of last season’s Champions League and Confederation Cup, with both looking to win the title to add to the ones they clinched in 2016 and 2023, respectively.

The Brazilians were dealt a blow before the match as midfielder Nuno Santos picked up an injury during the warm-up, with coach Miguel Cardoso opting to bring in striker Cassius Mailula.

However, Alger needed just four minutes to make their mark when Ahmed Khaldi skipped past a challenge on the right side of the box before pulling the ball back for Zakaria Draoui to fire home from close-range and give his side the lead.

Masandawana were forced to make another early change after Bryan Leon suffered what looked like a groin injury and was replaced by Iqraam Rayners in the 16th minute.

Despite being a goal down, Sundowns dominated, but the Algerian side was compact in defence.

It was not long before Masandawana were handed a lifeline on 23 minutes after being awarded a penalty for a handball after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review. Rayners stepped up and calmly dispatched the spot-kick to level matters.

As Sundowns continued to dominate, it was the visitors who restored their lead 10 minutes before the interval when Saadi Radouani got ahead of his marker to head into the back of the net after the initial header crashed against the crossbar.

The restart was delayed by more than 30 minutes due to inclement weather. Sundowns continued where they left off in the first half as they searched for the equaliser, while the visitors were happy to sit back and absorb the pressure.

Alger made it 3-1 in the 55th minute against the run of play through Khaldi’s curling shot from outside the box after Sundowns’ defence was caught ball-watching.