{"id":2107,"date":"2026-05-17T21:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T21:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/?p=2107"},"modified":"2026-05-17T21:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T21:52:10","slug":"mamelodi-sundowns-start-strong-in-caf-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/mamelodi-sundowns-start-strong-in-caf-title-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamelodi Sundowns Start Strong in CAF Title Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mamelodi Sundowns Start Strong in CAF Title Race<\/h2>\n

Mamelodi Sundowns made a strong start in the CAF Champions League final after beating AS FAR Rabat 1-0 in the first leg in Pretoria on Sunday, May 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

The South African side used their home advantage well and now head to Rabat with a narrow lead to protect in the second leg on Sunday, May 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Aubrey Modiba scored the only goal of the match in the 37th minute. The left-back struck a powerful free-kick from about 25 yards to beat AS FAR goalkeeper Ahmed Tagnaouti.<\/p>\n

Tagnaouti got a hand to the ball, but he could not keep it out as Modiba\u2019s effort flew into the net.<\/p>\n

It was a big moment for Modiba, who had not scored for almost three years. In that period, he had also received two red cards and scored one own goal. One of those red cards came against AS FAR in the group stage last season.<\/p>\n

Sundowns had struggled to create clear chances before the goal, but Modiba\u2019s free-kick changed the match and gave the hosts an important advantage.<\/p>\n

\"Mamelodi<\/p>\n

The home side nearly doubled their lead after Jayden Adams was fouled around 30 yards from goal. Teboho Mokoena took the free-kick and hit a powerful shot, but the ball came back off the crossbar.<\/p>\n

A second goal would have put Sundowns in a stronger position before the trip to Morocco. Still, the 1-0 win gives them control of the tie.<\/p>\n

Sundowns also finished the match without conceding an away goal. That could be important in the second leg. If Sundowns score once in Rabat, AS FAR will need three goals to turn the final around.<\/p>\n

The second half was delayed by around 30 minutes because of a problem with the Video Assistant Referee system.<\/p>\n

AS FAR first refused to continue until the VAR issue was fixed. But as the delay continued, they returned to the pitch and the match went on.<\/p>\n

CAF rules allow a match to continue even if VAR is not working. AS FAR risked losing the game 3-0 if they had refused to play.<\/p>\n

The incident did not reflect well on the organisation of the final, but it did not stop Sundowns from completing an important win.<\/p>\n

AS FAR will now try to repeat some famous comebacks in CAF Champions League history.<\/p>\n

The last team to lose the first leg and still win the title was Esperance de Tunis in 2018. Al Ahly won the first leg 3-1 in Alexandria, but Esperance answered with a 3-0 win in the return match to win 4-3 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

Before that, TP Mazembe won the 2009 title on away goals after losing the first leg against Heartland FC.<\/p>\n

For Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso, this final carries extra pressure.<\/h3>\n

He lost the 2024 final with Esperance de Tunis and also lost the 2025 final with Mamelodi Sundowns. In both finals, his team drew the first leg at home and then failed to win away.<\/p>\n

This time, Cardoso travels to the second leg with a home win behind him. It is a new situation for the Portuguese coach.<\/p>\n

The question now is whether he can guide Mamelodi Sundowns to the CAF Champions League title, or whether the story will end in another final defeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mamelodi Sundowns Start Strong in CAF Title Race Mamelodi Sundowns made a strong start in the CAF Champions League final after beating AS FAR Rabat 1-0 in the first leg in Pretoria on Sunday, May 17, 2026. The South African side used their home advantage well and now head to Rabat with a narrow lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-african-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habariforum.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}