CAF Champions League: Home advantage last straw for Simba and Sundowns
We are almost at the penultimate round of the 2021 CAF Champions league with all home teams having their work cut out ahead of this weekend’s quarterfinal second leg ties.
Tanzanian giants and league defending Champions will have a 4–0 deficit to overturn after a horror show against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB stadium. Goals from Eric Mathotho, Leonardo Castro, and a brace from Serbian marksman Samir Nurkovic sunk Simba and they will be counting on home support to push them at the Benjamin Mkapa stadium.
Chiefs on their end will be boosted by the return of the experienced Itumeleng Khune. The Bafana Bafana international missed the first leg through a combination of injury and suspension. They will however miss the services of Zimbabwean International Khama Billiat as he is still sidelined through injury.
Simba SC Communications Officer Haji Manara has reiterated the importance of self-belief and the need for players to give it their all on Saturday. “Everything is possible on Saturday if the hearts of our players will be on the pitch 100%. If they are going to play with a 90% determination, we are not going to win as we need 110% determination,” said Manara in a press conference.
Simba SC boasts a 12-game unbeaten record in the CAF Champions League, their last home loss coming as far as November 2018. But Chiefs will find solace in that Yanga fans will be on their side.
Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs homeland foes Mamelodi Sundowns will be hoping to perform a mini-miracle of their own when they welcome reigning CAF Champions League Champions Al Ahly at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.
Goals from Taher Mohammed and Salah Mohsen sunk Sundowns in Cairo and the Manqoba Mngqithi coached side will hope home advantage will tilt things in their favor. The fixture is certainly not short of goals and entertainment, 18 goals since the first fixture between these two teams in 2007 testament enough.
The Brazilians, as they are popularly known, have only lost 2 out of 43 games in the CAF Champions League, interestingly, all to North African opposition. In 2019, Sundowns inflicted on Al Ahly their worst defeat in international competition when they beat them 5–0, at home. Mentally, Sundowns has Al Ahly in the pockets but luckily for the North African giants, football matches aren’t decided by statistics.
Former Sundowns Coach Pitso Mosimane will be facing his former side for the second time although it will be his first time with a visiting team in the CAF Champions League.
In the other fixtures, ES Tunis will hope to capitalize on home advantage to overturn a 2–0 aggregate against CR Belouizdad while Wydad AC will hope to pip MC Alger. 1–1 is the aggregate for the two teams.
The winner between Simba SC and Kaizer Chiefs will most likely face the winner of the Sundowns versus Al Ahly clash while the winner of the ES Tunis versus CR Belouizdad will face the winner of the Wydad AC versus MC Alger clash in the semi-finals.
Originally published at https://africansports.today on May 20, 2021.
