The Sudanese Crescent does not shine in the "Blue Jewel" in front of 3 thousand spectators
Al-Hilal of Sudan fell in a goalless draw against its guest, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, on Friday at the "Blue Jewel" stadium in Omdurman, in the presence of about 3 thousand spectators, in the fifth and penultimate round of the second group of the African Champions League soccer competitions.
Al-Hilal raised its score to 4 points in second place, while Mamelodi Sundowns, who had guaranteed his qualification to the quarter-finals, moved away from the top with 13 points.
The guests played in a backup squad, and the most prominent of the mainstayers was the Uruguayan striker Gaston Sereno, as coach Mengkethi Moqba wanted to give the team a rest after securing qualification in the previous round.
As for Al-Hilal, his Portuguese coach Ricardo Formocinho relied on his international players, especially goalkeeper Ali Bouachrine, midfielder Al-Samoual Al-Mirghani and striker Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, along with Eid Moghaddam.
South African goalkeeper Ricardo Goose starred early when he blocked the long shot of the Sudanese midfielder Nasreddine Al Shagil (2), and Hilumphu Kikana almost put the visitors in front, but his shot went past the Al Hilal goal (4).
Abdul Rahman, known as the sieve, penetrated among the Sundowns defenders, but his shot was weak in the hands of the knight, missing his team the opportunity to open the scoring (16).
The owners of the land continued their danger to Goose's goal, and Faris Abdullah hit a creeping ball from outside the penalty area, which was dominated by the South African goalkeeper (18), then the left post responded to Abu Aqleh Abdullah's shot before Faris Abdullah followed it with his head out of the stadium (34).
The series of wasted opportunities did not stop, as Mohamed Abdel Rahman penetrated again, but his shot went past the left post (41), and Goose grabbed the ball before it penetrated his net after the worker's header (45 + 2).
Al-Hilal continued his preference in the second half of the match, but his attackers continued to miss goals, as Eid hit the right-hand stand of the guests' goal (49).
Mamelodi organized his defense tightly, preventing the attackers of the blue team from easily reaching his area, in exchange for relying on lightning counterattacks that almost resulted in a fatal goal had it not been for the crossbar that replaced the goalkeeper Bouachrine after blocking Kikana's long shot (81).
And later in the same group, Algeria's JS Belouizdad (three points) will meet with its Congolese Democratic guest Mazembe (two points).
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