Rabat – There is a distinct, exhausting rhythm to how some football clubs handle the pressure of facing other giants, especially on their home turf.
When tactical preparation fails to guarantee dominance, the theater of the absurd begins. The script is predictable, beginning with manufacturing a logistical crisis, then wrapping it in political provocation, claiming victimhood in the press, and hoping the resulting smoke screen suffocates the sporting integrity of the match.
We saw this playbook executed to its finest, most destructive degree by Senegal during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final against Morocco, where pre-match murmurs of “logistical injustices” culminated in a disgraceful 15-minute walk-off to break Morocco’s rhythm.
Now, ahead of Sunday’s decisive CAF Champions League final second leg at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Mamelodi Sundowns are lazily copying from the same manual.
AS FAR Ready to Break Sundowns’ Home Streak(Opens in a new browser tab)
Fiction or truth
The latest act of defiance from Pretoria began with a media storm engineered to paint Moroccan authorities as hostile hosts.
On Tuesday, South African media outlets erupted with sensationalist headlines claiming that the Sundowns’ delegation was held hostage at Johannesburg airport, allegedly denied landing rights by Rabat for their private charter.
The imagery was deliberately curated: players waiting in terminals flooded social media, carefully bypassed by the club’s official communication channels to maintain plausible deniability. It was a calculated attempt to stir outrage.
Yet, as institutional records always do, the truth caught up with the narrative. Sundowns officially submitted a travel itinerary to Moroccan authorities, explicitly scheduling their arrival for Wednesday, May 20th. No landing rights were ever denied.
By Wednesday, the squad touched down peacefully and smoothly in Casablanca. The crisis was entirely imaginary, a phantom logistical slight designed to justify any potential shortcomings on the pitch this Sunday, mirroring Senegal’s post-facto complaints about accommodation.
Assaults in Pretoria
What makes Sundowns’ sudden preoccupation with fair play so deeply ironic is the reality of what happened during the first leg in South Africa. While the club attempts to weaponize the media, they remain silent on the actual violence inflicted upon Moroccan citizens within their own walls.
During the match in Pretoria, a peaceful group of AS FAR supporters proudly displayed a standard banner reading “Morocco.” In an escalation that had nothing to do with sport, local South African supporters, distressingly aided by local police forces, violently attempted to tear the banner down.
The ensuing chaos in the stands left an innocent AS FAR supporter, Amine, hospitalized with severe fractures in multiple places. As Amine awaits surgery in a South African hospital, suffering from extensive trauma to his shoulder, arm, and chest, Mamelodi Sundowns has conveniently scrubbed the incident from their conscience.
Transgression of sovereignty
Instead of administrative accountability, the club chose further provocation. Earlier this week, Sundowns’ promotional media featured an aggressively altered map of Morocco, entirely amputating its southern provinces.
In football, lines are drawn on the grass, not on internationally recognized borders. To touch the fundamental sovereignty of a nation under the guise of match promotion is not a clerical error; it is an intentional transgression.
Though the club quietly deleted the graphic after immediate backlash, the message was delivered. Combined with the stadium violence, it became clear that Sundowns is no longer trying to win a football match; they are trying to instigate a geopolitical feud.
Morocco’s silent disadvantage
Just as it was during the AFCON final against Senegal, the true victim of these antics is the sport itself. The Moroccan players and technical staff of AS FAR have spent months preparing for a pure athletic contest. Instead, they are forced to navigate an environment polluted by their opponent’s psychological warfare.
When Senegal walked off the pitch during AFCON’s final, they attempted to convert a football match into a battle of chaos. Sundowns is attempting to achieve that exact paralysis before the referee even blows the opening whistle in Rabat.
Morocco’s response, however, remains institutional, quiet, and dignified. Sundowns landed without a single administrative hurdle, exposing the limits of their own propaganda. On Sunday, the grand asymmetric architecture of the Moulay Abdellah Stadium will host ninety minutes of football. Sundowns have tried everything to ensure those ninety minutes are played in chaos. It is up to the referee, the fans, and the integrity of the game to ensure they are played strictly by the rulebook.
