Mamelodi Sundowns suffered another continental blow when they lost 3-1 to Algerian side USM Alger in the rain-affected CAF Super Cup at Loftus in Pretoria on Sunday.

Already out of the Champions League after they were eliminated by Angolan side Wiliete SC in October at the preliminary stage, the Brazilians failed in their attempt for a second Super Cup success.

Sundowns do not have continental football this season, but there is still a lot to play for and one of their main targets will be to reclaim the league title from Orlando Pirates.

They also have the Fifa Challenger Cup against Mexican side Toluca FC and winner of the CONMEBOL Libertadores 2026 in their Fifa Derby of the Americas, the Carling Knockout Cup and the Nedbank Cup.

This match was affected by bad weather and the start of the second half delayed by about 30 minutes as the Pretoria sky opened with heavy rain that threatened to damage the pitch.

Alger, who are in Group D of the Confederation Cup with CS Sfaxien (Tunisia), Associacao Black Bulls (Mozambique) and AS Real Bamako (Mali) went to the break leading 2-1.

Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso started the match with goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and midfielder Teboho Mokoena in the starting lineup after they missed the last three matches.

The last time Williams and Mokoena played was during the 1-1 draw with Wiliete SC when they were knocked out of the Champions League last month.

They missed matches against Golden Arrows, Durban City and Marumo Gallants but their return would be welcomed by Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane.

Mosimane needs them for the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Benni McCarthy's Kenya this week at the Orlando Stadium and in Nairobi.

Sundowns suffered a blow in the lead up to the match when creative midfielder Nuno Santos was forced to withdraw from the starting lineup after he picked up an injury during warm-up.

He was replaced by Cassius Mailula, who was replaced by Antonio van Wyk shortly before the hour mark.

There was another blow for Cardoso 15 minutes into the game when striker Brayan Leon wobbled off the field with what looked like a hamstring injury and was replaced by Iqraam Rayners.

Alger opened the scoring after four minutes when Zakaria Draoui sneaked in from close range to beat Williams after he connected with a cross from Ahmed Kaldi.

After 22 minutes, VAR entered the fray and referee Dahane Beida consulted with the pitch side TV monitor and he judged Achref Abada to have handled the ball in the penalty box from the effort of Aubrey Modiba.

Rayners stood up to beat goalkeeper Oussama Bendot from the penalty spot for the equaliser.

Alger retook the lead after 37 minutes when captain Saadi Radouani pounced with a strong header from close range after Sundowns failed to deal with a corner kick.

Radouani benefited from the second ball after Imade Azzi's header hit the cross-bar with Williams beaten and moments later Thapelo Morena wasted an opportunity on the other side.

In search of the equaliser, Cardoso introduced exciting winger Siyanda Ndlovu for Morena at the start of the second half but he could not impose himself on the match because of the damp pitch.

Alger increased their lead after 55 minutes through Kaldi.

He got the better of Modiba and Khulumane Ndamane who allowed him a lot of space into the danger area.

In the closing stages, Cardoso introduced players like Themba Zwane and Fawaaz Basadien for Modiba and Thabang Matuludi but they could not influence this match in favour of their team.