Sundowns – already through to the quarterfinals with two games to spare – have a Group A date with the Sudanese at their home ground in Omdurman on Saturday which comes after they enjoyed a rare full week of preparations.
Al Hilal, whose midweek game against Hilal Al Fasher in their domestic league was postponed enabling them seven days of preparing for the Sundowns game, will have a new man on their bench.
They have brought in Portuguese coach Jose Ferreira as their new goalkeeper coach effective Tuesday.
He replaces Nelson Pizu, who has left the club for personal reasons, but Brazilian coach Joao Mota stays on as head coach.
"Al Hilal team places great importance on the game against South African football club Mamelodi Sundowns because it is the key to qualifying for the next round, so it plays for the sake of winning only.
"The club will have an open training session attended by fans and media on Friday and the team's management is also keen to attend the training in order to encourage the players to beat the South African team.
"The Sudanese Federation announced postponement Al Hilal's league to show just how important this game against Sundowns is," says Sudanese journalist Dar Al-Naim Abdin from Al-Jawhara sports newspaper.
"Al Hilal club have also announced that Mohamed Ahmed Erang's injury was minor with medical examinations also confirming the safety of Al Tayeb Abdel Razek.
"Although they say that Sundowns did not play hard against Al Hilal (in the reserve leg), I expect Sundowns to play hard in order to win to maintain the top spot in the group, especially since it is the only team in the first group that did not lose any match (to date), so I expect it to be a big match between the two teams," says Al-Naim Abdin.
Al-Hilal are in competition with rivals Al-Merreikh and Pitso Mosimane's Al Ahly in the battle for second place.