Mamelodi Sundowns went down 2-1 to Wydad Casablanca in the CAF Champions League semi-final first-leg on Friday evening.
Sundowns re-called Denis Onyango, Anele Ngcongca along with Gaston Sirino who missed the quarterfinal second-leg at Al Ahly.
Wydad were quick out of the starting blocks, as Salaheddine Saidi's glancing header six minutes in forced Onyango into action, while the Brazilians launched their first effort on target 10 minutes through Gaston Sirino's powerful strike.
A swift counter-attack from the right-side 26 minutes in landed kindly to Saidi, who needed no second invitation to finally beat Onyango.
Sundowns went to sleep on 32 minutes as a first-time shot from Ismail El-Haddad give Onyango a few issues, thus needing a defensive clearance to save the day.
However, Masandawana were level as Ngcongca pounced on poor defending 42 minutes in to head home from a corner.
A minute into the second half, Sundowns were behind once again after Badi Aouk capitalised on sloppy goalkeeping for an easy tap-in.
Sundowns looked to perverse the score and oversaw a 56th minute change as Sirino made way for Phakamani Mahlambi.
Approaching the final quarter, the Wydad kept pushing forward for more goals and almost found a third in the final eight minutes when Themba Zwane's headed clearance found the post.
As full-time neared, Masandawana failed to find a way back but head to the second-leg in a week's time with the all-important away goal.