Mamelodi Sundowns travel to the DRC to face As Vita in the CAF Champions League second round and Soccer Laduma's, Lunga Adam analyses The Black Dolphins.
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The green and black-clad outfit are by no means strangers to South African football fans, as they made two trips to the southern-most part of the continent for the Vodacom Challenge in 2004 and 2005.
Their presence in the sadly defunct but much-loved pre-season competition helped bring about excitement and exuberance among the fans, flair on the field and, for the players, a brilliant platform to showcase their talent.
That was partly the reason why, when the format of the tournament was changed to accommodate European opposition, it received a lukewarm response from Mzansi's football lovers.
AS Vita have won their domestic league (known as Linafoot) title 13 times and bagged the Champions League when it was still called the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1973. However, they fell at the last hurdle in 1981 and 2014.
As recently as two years ago, they knocked Kaizer Chiefs out of the competition, largely helped by an Ndombe Mubele hat-trick in the first leg at home.
Unlike Downs, they know the feeling of winning the Champions League and their fans always expect them to perform.
In the back of their minds, they will remember that they beat Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2009 CAF Confederation Cup while under the tutelage of former Orlando Pirates assistant coach and South African, Chris O'Loughlin, in front of a partisan crowd of 80 000.
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Do you think Masandawana can go all the way and win the Champions League?
