Chiefs and Sundowns face uphill battle to reach CAF group stages

The fate of Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs in the CAF Inter-Club competitions is hanging in the balance.

Reigning Champions League champions, Sundowns, played to a goalless draw against Angolan club Wiliete S.C. in their second-round, first-leg match away.

Chiefs lost 1-0 to Red Arrows of Zambia in a CAF Confederation Cup second-round, first-leg encounter, also away.

The defending champions will need an outright victory at home, having failed to score an away goal.

Coach Miguel Cardoso says they need to be aggressive offensively in the return leg on Friday evening. 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 Wiliete SC vs Mamelodi Sundowns CAF Champions League Miguel Cardoso & Mothobi Mvala Full Presser on YouTube https://t.co/px8HUrno1d #Sundowns #TotalEnergiesCAFCL #NeverStopRising https://t.co/cd9JlLzdhf — Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) October 18, 2026 “We are going to prepare this match in a best way.

We need to be stronger than we were.

We need to be more aggressive, we need to be more offensive, but obviously, we are not happy with this results,” says Cardoso.

Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, sat out the first leg match, while key midfielder Teboho Mokoena, was replaced after sustaining an injury but, Cardoso hopes both will be available for Friday’s second leg.

“Tebogo is a bit of touch on that ligament that was hurt in the national team.

We don’t know the extent of the injury.

Let’s hope it’s not a big thing and we can recover him for the next match.

Ronwen should not be a big thing.

He had contact in training, but it was important to keep him safe from something aggressive,” he adds.

Kaizer Chiefs chances of reaching the group stages are also hanging by a thread.