Winstone Kalengo was in action for AC Leopards when they lost 2- 0 away to Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League first round first leg game.
While Kalengo was named in the starting XI, Kennedy Mweene continued to be overshadowed by Dennis Onyango and he watched from the bench as Kalengo and his team struggled against a confident and technically good Sundowns side.
Kalengo was the main striker for Leopards in a game the Congo Brazavillle side seemed to be content to sit back and soak up the pressure.
Leopards showed very little in the final third of attack with 31 year old Congo league top scorer usually isolated in attack and coach Lamine Ndiaye should have been happy with the result as the result could have been worse.
Sundowns had to wait until the final minute of the first half for the goal to come through Keagan Dolly despite dominating the first half and coming as close as hitting the crossbar.
The second goal came soon after the restart after Castro drove home a shot from outside the box.
The Leopards goalie was given a straight red card in the 82nd minute and Kalengo was sacrificed for the reserve goalie to come in.
Substitute Laffor saw his penalty saved by the reserve goalkeeper for Leopards to hold on and ensure the result remained decent.
The two teams meet in Congo next week.
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Sundowns brace yourselves for baptism of fire in Brazzaville.
Brace yourself for a shock of your life
it wont be an easy game for the congolese in their back yard.
I watched this game and Kalengo’s team is not good enough..Maybe our Zesco is even better..
@Chindika, I also watched the match. I can agree with you. If AC Leopards started the game like they played in the second half, they could have at least scored a goal. But I see Sundowns losing in Congo. By how many goals, I don’t know.
Overall performance Sundowns were victoriuos, how about that?
kikikikikiki sundowns wi go through to the second round
I think the Coach for Leopards is to blame for the loss….Tactically Leopards didn’t play well…-
I dont think sundown ii make it the second half showed that they can win also. The cotch is to blem he went for a draw not nowing the power of the oponent
Truth be told Leopards beating Sundowns in Pretoria was never going to happen. Not with the current form Sundowns are in. That said they still have a chance in Congo though, Sundowns are not the best on the road outside of South Africa. The Congo coach reminded me of our very own Lwandamina, no plan B. He came into the game hoping to close out a draw but when it was obvious that players like Leonardo Castro, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly could turn the leopards defence in their own half he should have switched tactics but he just held onto the same tactic till the end. It was obvious he did not study the individual strengths of players like Billiat otherwise he would have man marked them out of the game and killed off supply. Lets hope he learns fast so that he comes up with some thing concrete in Congo otherwise they are actually lucky to have walked away with just two goals.
I agree with my brother @Big Steve 4rm SA. Sundowns are in form and the confidence levels in the team are high. Leopards will have to work harder Congo Brazzaville to yovercome this 2 goal deficit. K.Dolly and K Brillant are a problem for ant defence that comes against them.
i said it that this congolese ligue is weak, our ligue is better than this weak congolese ligue, u wil belive me all congolese clubs they wil not reach the group stage but our own zesco & zanaco they wil reach in the group stage this year.
Im very patriotic and want the best all the time for my beloved country but truth be told, I don’t think there is any league weaker than the ZPL if there is then it is leagues from the really small nations like Lesotho and Swaziland otherwise at the moment we are pretty much at the bottom.