By Osoro Nyawangah, CAIRO
Egypt
Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco reached the inaugural African Football League final after gripping semifinal second legs on Wednesday.
Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen
Williams saved a penalty and Egyptian side Al Ahly struck the woodwork in a 0-0
draw in Cairo that gave the club from Pretoria a 1-0 aggregate victory.
In Rades, Esperance of Tunisia
edged Wydad 1-0 on the night through a Rodrigo Rodrigues goal, but he had his
penalty saved in a shoot-out, which the Moroccans won 5-4 after a 1-1 aggregate
draw.
Wydad will have home advantage
on Sunday in the first leg of a final offering four million dollars to the
winners, with the return match on November 11.
The showdown will be a repeat
of a 2023 CAF Champions League semifinal, which the Casablanca club won on away
goals after two draws.
In Cairo, record 11-time
Champions League titleholders Ahly were given an early scoring chance when
Williams fouled former Sundowns star Percy Tau and the referee pointed to the
spot.
After a lengthy delay while
Sundowns protested the decision, veteran Tunisian Ali Maaloul saw his low kick
pushed away by the South African international shot-stopper.
Williams was struggling with
crosses, though, and when he dropped one, Mahmoud Kahraba almost netted for the
Cairo Red Devils.
Tau was unlucky when his
fierce close-range shot rattled the crossbar, and the South African side were
grateful to still be ahead on aggregate at the break.
Sundowns performed better in
the second half only to put themselves under pressure in the final six minutes
of regular time when substitute Junior Mendieta was shown a straight red card.
The Argentine had been on the
pitch just a few minutes when he was guilty of a studs-up tackle that caught
Akram Tawfik just below the knee.
Heated Ahly claims for an
added-time penalty, when the handball offence was committed just outside the
box, were waved away by the outstanding Senegalese referee after a VAR check.
On the outskirts of Tunis,
Brazilian Rodrigues cancelled the one-goal lead Wydad had taken into the second
leg with an unstoppable header on 66 minutes.
He had the ball in the net
again after 88 minutes, but VAR revealed that a teammate had strayed offside in
the build-up and the goal was disallowed.
Rodrigues, a recent signing
from Brazilian second-tier club Juventude, was the only player who failed to
score in the shoot-out.
His spot kick lacked power and
Wydad goalkeeper Youssef El Motie went the right way to pull off what proved to
be the crucial save.
Senegalese substitute Bouly
Sambou won the shoot-out for Wydad when he gave 19-year-old Esperance
goalkeeper Amanallah Memmiche no chance with a powerful drive into the net.
Aly Ahly has been obsessed to victories! Let it bit the dust, at least for now!
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