Johannesburg — For a good minute or two after the referee had blown the whistle to end the Caf Champions League Group B clash between Al Hilal and Mamelodi Sundowns in Omdurman on Saturday which ended 1-1, Ather Tahir knelt on the pitch agonising about what could have been.
His head cupped in his hands, Tahir seemed to fear the worst — afraid that should the Sudanese champions fail to progress to the knockout stage, he would be to blame.
Tahir fluffed a last-minute penalty that would have seen Al Hilal win and progress from the group phase along with the Brazilians, and knock out Al Ahly.
The man who had replaced captain Mohamed Abdelrahman — scorer of the equaliser after Khuliso Mudau had put Sundowns ahead — took the spot kick so tamely that Ronwen Williams actually managed to hold on to the ball.
That miss has now left the door ajar for Al Ahly to reach the knockout stage, the two team are set to meet each other in Cairo in their final group match next week.
Al Hilal do have their destiny in their hands though and having beaten Al Ahly already, should be confident they can still eliminate the Egyptians.
There are some interesting permutations as to how each of the two teams can progress and this is how.
Al Hilal will qualify if:
— They win
— They draw
— They score in a one goal defeat (such a result will see them progress due to having scored an away goal)
Al Ahly will qualify if:
— They win 1-0 (such a result will see them progress via tie breaker number seven – goals scored in all matches)
— If they win by two or more goals
It makes for an intriguing clash, one that will leave Tahir a miserable player, regretting that missed penalty even way more than he did at the end of Saturday’s clash against Sundowns.
IOL Sport