Wiliete stun holders Sundowns on away goals to reach Champions League groups

Mamelodi Sundowns are out of the CAF Champions League they won last season, beaten to a group-stage place by Wiliete SC, an Angolan club that did not exist before 2018. A 1-1 draw at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday, after a goalless first leg in Angola, sent Wiliete through on the away-goals rule.

CAF described it as a major shock, and it is hard to argue. Sundowns had been a fixture of the group stage for a decade, and they went into the final 45 minutes of this tie ahead both on the night and on aggregate.

How the tie turned

Tashreeq Williams gave Sundowns the lead after 11 minutes and the holders carried that advantage into half-time. At the interval the tie was 1-0 in their favour and looked to be heading the way their recent qualifying campaigns had gone.

Four minutes into the second half, it changed. Cristovao Paciencia, known as Mabululu, intercepted a weak back pass, raced through and scored with a well-placed shot. Jacaranda FM, citing AFP, recorded the goal in the 49th minute.

One slack pass, one clinical finish, and suddenly the away goal belonged to Wiliete. Sundowns attacked from that point and Wiliete defended in numbers, and the Angolans preserved the 1-1 draw to the end.

Sundowns needed one more goal to go through. Wiliete needed only to hold what they had. They did.

The end of a long run

The scale of this goes beyond one poor evening in Pretoria. According to The Citizen, Sundowns had qualified for the group stage in each of the previous 11 editions of the competition, and last fell short in 2014/15, when TP Mazembe beat them 3-1 on aggregate. Jacaranda FM, citing AFP, put the sequence at 10 consecutive group-stage qualifications since Sundowns beat Zamalek of Egypt in the 2016 final.

Whichever count you take, the point is the same. The Champions League group stage has been Sundowns' natural habitat for the best part of a decade. They won the competition for the first time in 2016 and won it again last season, beating FAR Rabat of Morocco 2-1 on aggregate in the final.

This time they received a first-round bye, so their whole defence of the trophy amounted to two legs against a side that had never been this far. They failed to score in Angola, and at home they conceded the goal that counted double.

Wiliete's rise

For Wiliete, this was only a second appearance in the competition. Last season they were knocked out in the first qualifying round. This time they beat Foresters of the Seychelles 5-0 on aggregate to earn the meeting with Sundowns, and now, as The Citizen reported, they are in the group stage for the first time.