At the start of this CAF Champions League Group B clash, visiting Sundowns wasted little time to grab the initiative. They swept downfield with a wave of sorties into the opposition half. Coton Sport’s defence managed to contain the threat in the final third without undue effort.<\/p>\n
However, Sundowns fired an ominous warning when they suddenly stepped the ante and forced a seventh-minute corner. Marcelo Allende’s out-swinging kick flew harmlessly wide into no man’s land, much to the relief of the home side\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
Moments later, Sundowns star Cassius Mailula intercepted a pass in the opposition defence and fired a stinging drive from the edge of the penalty for the opening goal. Although Mailula fired from range Gabin Allambatnan, Coton Sport’s Chadian goalkeeper was rudely surprised by the shot and was beaten all ends up (1-0).<\/p>\n
Two minutes later, Sundowns doubled the score after a penetrative raid down the right flank. Coton Sport’s defence failed to deal with the goalmouth cross, and the unmarked Thapelo Morena made a deft backheel flick.<\/p>\n
TV replays showed the ball had already crossed the goalline when Morena’s effort was blocked by a defender. Aubrey Modiba, who was well up with play, headed home the rebound, but officials named Morena as the scorer (2-0).<\/p>\n
Two goals in the opening 12 minutes, made it look so easy for Sundowns, and they were lulled into a false sense of security. Coton Sport managed to reverse the flow of the game with counter-attacks and threatened briefly.<\/p>\n
They scored a goal against the run of play around the half-hour mark through 19-year-old left-wing Patient Wassou, who slipped the ball into the net after two Sundowns defenders failed to cut off a kick from the right flank (2-1).<\/p>\n
Sundowns did not surrender the initiative but did not look like scoring until Modiba staged a breakout from deep inside his own half. A low upfield kick down the centre found Mailula who pushed the ball between the twin centre-backs and then ran in to fire home a third goal after two Champions League Group B matches (3-1).<\/p>\n
His prolific goalscoring feats have earned him the nickname ‘Cash Money’ – a play on his first name Cassius. There was a class about the way Mailula scored both goals.<\/p>\n
Coton Sport saw a bit more of the ball after the break but could not make headway against the Sundowns’ defence, despite enjoying more shots at goal and more corners.<\/p>\n
Both teams had chances to increase their score but failed to capitalise on opportunities. Sundowns skipper Teboho Mokoena had a free-kick on the edge of the opposition penalty area, but his effort bounced harmlessly off the defensive wall, 10 minutes from the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mamelodi Sundowns’ first venture into Africa this season, ended on a high note after a well-taken 3-1 win over Cameroonian giants Coton Sport FC at the Roumd\u00e9 Adjia Stadium on Friday evening, after leading 3-1 at halftime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":25934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[7,14,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-25937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-sports","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n