CAF Champions League.. Sundowns leads the Royal Army in the return leg in Morocco

Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa achieved a slight advantage over its host Royal Moroccan Army 1-0, Sunday in Pretoria in the first leg of the CAF Champions League final.
The only goal of the match was scored by Aubrey Modiba (37).
The two teams will meet again next Sunday at Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium in Rabat.
Both teams are looking forward to achieving the second title in their respective history, as the Royal Army opened the Moroccan club titles in the competition in 1985, while Sundowns won the title in 2016 and was the last team from outside the north of the continent to win it, before the dominance of Wydad of Morocco, Esperance of Tunisia and Al-Ahly of Egypt in previous years.
The match was fast and exciting in its events from the beginning, as the home team, supported by a large crowd, dominated, while the Moroccan team, led by Portuguese coach Alexander Santos, played cautiously.
Sundowns almost opened the scoring when Khuliso Mudau sent a dangerous cross into the penalty area, which was cleared by the Moroccan defense before it reached Colombian Brian Leon (20).
The attack was led by the trio, Youssef Fahli, Rabie Harimat, and Ahmed Hamoudan, who passed a perfect ball after a quick rebound, and Younis Abdel Hamid headed it over the crossbar (23).
After several attempts, Obiri Modiba snatched the lead goal after taking advantage of a free kick that he executed perfectly into the Moroccan team’s net (37).
The start of the second half was delayed for about 25 minutes due to a malfunction in the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, before play resumed under new organizational procedures.
El-Geish goalkeeper Ahmed Zadha El-Taknouti shone remarkably after saving his team’s net against South African pressure, especially through Lyon, who was completely alone and shot near the goal (68).
The South African team almost added the second goal from a free kick executed by Kenneth Salling with a powerful shot, but the ball bounced off the left post (77).