A final with one eye on Friday
Miguel Cardoso wants a trophy on Sunday afternoon. Pitso Mosimane wants two of Cardoso’s best players fit for Kenya on Friday night. Ronwen Williams and Teboho Mokoena cannot belong completely to both men this week, and that is the quiet drama hanging over Loftus.
This Sundowns-USM Alger Super Cup is a one-off final between Africa’s two club champions. Mamelodi Sundowns lifted the CAF Champions League in May; USM Alger won the Confederation Cup. CAF’s own preview puts kick-off at 15h00 local time on Sunday 8 November, which is 15:00 SAST, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. One match, no second leg, one trophy. For a club that fell out of this season’s Champions League before the group stage, it is a chance to put African silverware back in the cabinet within weeks of that exit.
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Match | Mamelodi Sundowns v USM Alger, CAF Super Cup |
| When | Sunday 8 November 2026, 15:00 SAST |
| Where | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
| Format | One match, no return leg |
| Prize | US$500,000 to the winners, US$250,000 to the runners-up (TimesLIVE, AfricaSoccer) |
| Previous titles | Sundowns 2017, USM Alger 2023 |
| Head to head | Two meetings, both won by Sundowns (2019/20 Champions League) |
| TV | Not confirmed when we checked on Saturday morning |
Sundowns USM Alger Super Cup: how the champions got here
Sundowns earned this match in Rabat. CAF’s account of the run has Aubrey Modiba scoring the only goal of the first leg of the final against AS FAR in Pretoria, then Mokoena equalising in first-half added time of the return after AS FAR had levelled the tie from the penalty spot. It was Masandawana’s second continental crown, ten years after the first.
USM Alger’s final went the distance. TimesLIVE and AfricaSoccer both report that they beat Zamalek 8-7 on penalties after the final finished 1-1 on aggregate. They have been here before as well: the Algerians beat Al Ahly 1-0 to win the Super Cup in 2023, and Sunday is a shot at a second.
So are Sundowns. Their only Super Cup came at this same stadium on 18 February 2017, a 1-0 win over TP Mazembe settled by a late Ricardo Nascimento penalty, the Sowetan reported at the time. The coach that day was Mosimane, the man now waiting on the outcome from the other side of the fence.
What Cardoso has said about Williams and Mokoena
The fullest word from Sundowns on the pair came from Cardoso at Loftus on Tuesday night, after the rotated side that beat Golden Arrows 1-0 in the knockout cup quarter-final. His starting point was clear. “Look, we cannot risk the health of a player,” he said, in words reported by TimesLIVE and AfricaSoccer. Protecting players, he added, was the job.
On Williams, the captain and goalkeeper, he played the problem down. TimesLIVE has him saying “it’s not a big injury, it’s more a pathology”, and The Citizen and AfricaSoccer carry the same phrase about it not being a big injury. The Citizen adds that Williams has been struggling and that the club is working to get him into proper condition.
Mokoena is the bigger worry. “We had a big setback with Teboho,” Cardoso said, according to TimesLIVE and The Citizen. His account runs like this: the midfielder came back from national duty injured, Sundowns felt it was important to play him in the MTN8 final, and he then hurt the same leg again. Cardoso called it the second time, same leg, same thing. TimesLIVE reports that Mokoena has missed four straight matches and Williams three, and The Citizen notes that Ricardo Goss has kept goal in his place.
Cardoso ended on a hopeful note. With a little bit of time, he said, everything would be OK. What he did not say, and what Sundowns had not said by Saturday morning, is whether “a little bit of time” means Sunday. ESPN describes both players as being managed carefully, and AfricaSoccer lists both as doubts. That is where it stands, and we will not guess beyond it.
Five days later: Bafana Bafana and Kenya
Here is why every Bafana supporter will be watching the Sundowns team sheet. SAFA named Mosimane’s final squad for the two AFCON 2027 qualifiers against Kenya on Thursday, and both Williams and Mokoena are in it, described by the federation as working their way back to fitness. The squad gathers in Johannesburg on Sunday, the day of the final. The first leg is on Friday 13 November at 18:00 in Johannesburg, and the return is in Nairobi on Tuesday 17 November. Our AFCON 2027 qualifiers page has the campaign so far.
Mosimane has chosen to wait. In SAFA’s release he said he would hold on until the doctors tell him the players are ruled out, and only then call up others. SAFA says the national team’s medical staff are in contact with Sundowns. Speaking to reporters, in comments carried by TimesLIVE, he put the dilemma in one line: “What if they play on Sunday?”
So the two coaches are looking at the same question from opposite ends, and Sunday’s team sheet will tell Mosimane a good deal.
Our view: Cardoso’s own words point towards caution. A coach who opens with “we cannot risk the health of a player” and who has watched a second-string side win two cup ties without conceding has room to be patient. Goss has kept goal in every match since Williams dropped out. The harder call is Mokoena, whose engine in midfield is not easily replaced, and whose injury has already come back once. A trophy is a trophy. A third flare-up of the same problem would cost club and country far more than one afternoon.
The rest of the Sundowns team news
Khuliso Mudau will not be part of it. Cardoso said after a league game against Marumo Gallants in August that the right-back had ruptured his Achilles and would be out for a long time, as EWN and FARPost reported. ESPN says he has not yet returned, and AfricaSoccer lists him as unavailable for Sunday.
There is better news at centre-back. Mothobi Mvala has come back from more than a year out injured and is expected to lead the defence, according to The Herald, with AfricaSoccer reporting him fully fit. “Mothobi has proved to everybody that he is at this level,” Cardoso said of him this week, as The Herald reported it.
Up front, the choice is a happy one. Iqraam Rayners headed the winner against Arrows, and ESPN expects Cardoso to weigh him against Brayan Leon, whose goals carried Sundowns through the later rounds of last season’s Champions League, according to CAF. Neither the club nor the coach has named a squad for Sunday.
USM Alger: who Sundowns are facing
The visitors are coached by Lamine N’Diaye, a Senegalese coach who, TimesLIVE and AfricaSoccer both note, has won the Champions League, the Confederation Cup and the Super Cup in his career. TimesLIVE reports that the squad has already arrived in Pretoria.
They come in on the back of a 2-0 league win away at CS Constantine, and N’Diaye spoke about Sundowns in his press conference after that game, as reported by the Algerian site PlaneteSport. In our translation of his French, he said: “We will face the best club in Africa.” He followed it with: “But football is not an exact science.” His plan, he said, was to try to cause a surprise.
AfricaSoccer reports that Houssam Ghacha and Mohamed Bouderbala did not travel after picking up injuries. No other outlet we read carried USM Alger team news.
The history is on the home side’s side. The clubs have met twice, both times in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage, and Sundowns won both. Hlompho Kekana scored the only goal in Algeria on 28 December 2019, and at Loftus on 11 January 2020 Thapelo Morena and Sibusiso Vilakazi scored in a 2-1 win, with Aymen Mahious replying for USM, Soccer Laduma reported.
What a win would mean
Sundowns lead the league on 26 points from 10 games, one ahead of Orlando Pirates, who have played a game fewer, according to the PSL’s log. They have already won the MTN8 this season, and they beat Al Ahli 2-1 at Loftus on 19 September to win FIFA’s African-Asian-Pacific Cup, AfricaSoccer reported. They are in the knockout cup semi-finals too.
A Super Cup on Sunday would be a third trophy of the season. Lose it, and that Champions League exit will feel heavier. Win it with Williams and Mokoena watching from the stand, and Cardoso will have made two people happy: himself and Mosimane. More on the club on our Mamelodi Sundowns page, and on the captain on our Ronwen Williams page.
Frequently asked questions
What time is Sundowns v USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup?
Kick-off is at 15:00 SAST on Sunday 8 November 2026. CAF lists the match for 15h00 local time, 13h00 GMT, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
Will Ronwen Williams and Teboho Mokoena play against USM Alger?
Not confirmed. Miguel Cardoso said on Tuesday that Sundowns cannot risk a player’s health, and called Williams’ problem not a big injury. Mokoena has had a setback in the same leg, and neither Sundowns nor Cardoso had said by Saturday morning whether either will play.
Who is the coach of USM Alger?
Lamine N’Diaye, a Senegalese coach. TimesLIVE and AfricaSoccer report that he has won the CAF Champions League, the Confederation Cup and the Super Cup before.
Have Sundowns won the CAF Super Cup before?
Yes, once. Sundowns beat TP Mazembe 1-0 at Loftus Versfeld on 18 February 2017, with Pitso Mosimane as coach. USM Alger won the trophy in 2023 by beating Al Ahly 1-0.
Are Williams and Mokoena in the Bafana Bafana squad to face Kenya?
Yes. SAFA named both in the final squad for the two AFCON 2027 qualifiers against Kenya, while they work back to fitness. The first leg is on Friday 13 November at 18:00 in Johannesburg, and the second is in Nairobi on Tuesday 17 November.