Lamontville Golden Arrows stunned Mamelodi Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Sunday, handing the reigning African champions their first home defeat in more than a year.
Sede Dion scored the decisive goal in the 37th minute, ending his five-hour wait for a goal and giving Arrows a slender advantage ahead of the second leg in Durban next Sunday.
The Ivorian forward was released by a superb pass from Khulekani Shezi, sending him through on goal with only Ricardo Goss to beat. Dion kept his composure before calmly slotting the ball beneath the Sundowns goalkeeper to register his first goal of the new domestic season.
The goal was also the first Goss has conceded since returning to Sundowns, having last let one in for the club during their 3-0 defeat to Stellenbosch FC in May 2022, before spending four seasons away from the club on loan.
Arrows’ victory also extended their impressive defensive record to eight consecutive clean sheets, putting them within touching distance of a place in the MTN8 final.
The KwaZulu-Natal side will now dream of reaching their first major domestic cup final since 2009, when they famously thrashed Ajax Cape Town 6-0 to lift the MTN8 trophy.
Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso acknowledged that his side still have a chance to overturn the deficit but rued the circumstances surrounding Arrows’ goal.
It’s a result that’s half of the match. We could have built a more comfortable situation, but it’s just half of the job and time played,” Cardoso said after the match.
Cardoso felt the disruption caused by an early goalkeeper substitution affected his side’s rhythm.
We started well until the moment the goalkeeper had to be substituted. Arrows tried to close everything, we knew where the spaces would be created. Those seven minutes to change the player broke the focus and energy. It shouldn’t happen, we made mistakes for the goal.”
The Portuguese coach admitted that Sundowns were punished for losing possession and becoming exposed defensively.
We lost the ball and were unbalanced in defence. It brought instability. At half-time, the talk was that they had one shot, one goal. Football is like that. I think there was misfortune, not the best result.”
Cardoso, however, insisted the tie remains open.
It’s halfway. Let’s see what we can bring next week, but we have a midweek match to think of.”
Arrows head coach Pitso Dladla was delighted with the result but admitted his side could have made their advantage more comfortable after creating several opportunities on the counter-attack.
We knew there would be moments where we would suffer. We had many counter-attacks that we could have scored,” Dladla said.
Dladla acknowledged the pressure applied by Sundowns but praised his players for surviving difficult spells.
It was scary. The game forced us back a lot, but we managed to survive. Remember the nature of the tournament, the semis have two legs.”
Despite holding the advantage, Dladla knows his team will need to be more aggressive in the second leg if they are to secure their place in the final.
We have an away-goal advantage, but we need to be more aggressive, score first or score. We will get a big chance to win and go to the final.”
Both sides must now quickly shift their attention to the Betway Premiership before renewing their MTN8 battle next weekend.
Sundowns host in-form AmaZulu on Wednesday, while Arrows welcome Stellenbosch FC on the same night.
Cardoso faces a delicate selection dilemma as he attempts to manage his squad through a demanding week before Sundowns travel to Durban for the decisive second leg on Sunday.
Arrows, meanwhile, will look to use their home fixture against Stellenbosch to maintain momentum without the added burden of midweek travel.
With just one goal separating the teams, the MTN8 semi-final remains finely poised, with Sundowns needing to overturn the deficit and Arrows seeking to protect their advantage and book their place in the final.