Orlando Pirates laid down a marker at the weekend with their win over Al Ahly in Cairo although recent past history has taught that the Cairo giants have an uncanny knack of bouncing back.
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Pirates won again in Egypt against the continent’s most successful club with a plucky 2-1 victory where they will have served notice of their potential to go on and take African football’s top club prize.
It was the third time Pirates had won at Al Ahly in African club competition – no other club has ever done that more than once, never mind three times.
Mamelodi Sundowns have had some impressive wins over Ahly, including inflicting on them their record 5-0 defeat in the 2019 quarterfinal, but all that success has come on South African soil.
But after Sundowns hammered Ahly 5-2 in the group phase last season, the Egyptian juggernaut still went onto win the Champions League.
This season Sundowns have had little of the polish of their previous group competition efforts but maybe that is a good thing.
Too often in the past, Sundowns have been the best side in the group stage but then floundered in the pressure cauldron of the knockout rounds that followed.
Maybe this time, after stuttering into the last eight, Sundowns will have a change of fortune. It is, after all, a funny old game!
To have three South African sides in the business end of continental club competition – Stellenbosch advanced at their first attempt to the quarterfinals of the African Confederation Cup - is a boost for the domestic game.
There is so much more motivation to do well in the African cups these days with prize money now not only covering costs but delivering clubs a profit.
Pirates and Sundowns are already guaranteed US$900 000 for reaching the last eight, which at today’s exchange rate is close to R17-million. Stellenbosch will take home a minimum of some R10-million.
The expense of participation is eye watering, however, and past money pots did not even cover the costs. This has, thankfully, changed significantly in recent years.