Williams is shootout hero as Sundowns squeeze into semis
South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams once again became a penalty shootout hero as his club, Mamelodi Sundowns, scraped into the CAF Champions League semi-finals on Friday.
Sundowns edged Tanzanian outfit Young Africans 3-2 in the penalty shootout in Pretoria after the second leg of the quarter-final ended 0-0, as did the first leg in Dar es Salaam last weekend.
A disappointing night for Tanzania saw Simba also bow out. They lost 2-0 to title-holders Al Ahly of Egypt in Cairo and were eliminated 3-0 on aggregate.
Amr el Solia scored his first goal of the African campaign on 47 minutes for Ahly. Mahmoud Kahraba added a second from an added-time penalty.
Unimpressive Sundowns were fortunate to book a last-four showdown with ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast or Esperance of Tunisia after Young Africans twice came close to winning.
Williams saved four penalties for his country in an Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final shootout victory over Cape Verde in Ivory Coast two months ago.
His penalty shot-stopping ability came to the fore again as he saved kicks from Stephane Aziz Ki and Dickson Job.
With Sundowns 3-2 ahead in the shootout, Ibrahim Hamad fired the fifth Young Africans penalty over the bar and the South African side breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Chilean Marcelo Allende, Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro and Neo Maema were the successful penalty takers for Sundowns, who won the premier African club competition in 2016.
- Constant threat -
Sundowns dominated possession throughout the return match on a cool autumn night, but lacked imagination when attacking and rarely troubled Malian goalkeeper Djigui Diarra.
After a first half that produced only one shot on target, from Sundowns, Young Africans became more adventurous and the pace of Burkina Faso winger Ki posed a constant threat.
Ki thought he had given the east African club the lead on 59 minutes when his fierce shot from inside the area beat Williams and rebounded off the underside of the bar.
While Young Africans believed the ball had crossed the goalline, the Mauritanian referee called for a VAR review, which ruled that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line.
Ki later turned creator with his cross giving Clement Mzize a great chance to break the deadlock from close range, but the substitute blazed wide with only Williams to beat.
Sundowns' best chance came late in the opening half when Thembinkosi Lorch found himself with only Diarra to beat, but his poorly placed kick was cleared off the feet of the goalkeeper.
Before ASEC face Esperance in Abidjan on Saturday, Petro Luanda of Angola will host TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both first legs ended goalless.
