The Moroccans took the lead on 40 minutes when captain Mohamed Hrimat converted a penalty to level the tie on aggregate after Sundowns had claimed a 1-0 victory in the first leg in Pretoria the previous weekend.
But Mokoena settled the visitors’ nerves with a rocket shot from the edge of the box that had the beating of goalkeeper Ahmed Tagnaouti and crashed into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Hrimat missed a penalty with 15 minutes remaining as Sundowns held on to claim the title for the second time after their previous win in 2016, and qualify for both the Intercontinental Cup and 2029 Club World Cup.
Sundowns were without regular left-back Aubrey Modiba, who picked up a hamstring injury in the first leg after scoring the winner from a free-kick. He was replaced by Zimbabwe international Divine Lunga.
Modiba will hope the injury does not put his 2026 World Cup in doubt either as Bafana Bafana’s first-choice in that position.
AS FAR had an excellent chance to take the when captain Mohamed Hrimat was set up in the centre of the box without a defender in sight but skewed his shot high and wide.
The first shot in target in the game came on 24 minutes when Kutlwano Lethlaku’s low effort did not have enough power to trouble AS FAR goalkeeper Ahmed Tagnaouti.
Sundowns were uncharacteristically sloppy with their passing that provided possession to AS FAR, who mounted several dangerous attacks that lacked an end product.
But when Lunga caught Reda Slim from behind as he dallied while trying to clear the ball, the home side were awarded a penalty by Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan on Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review. He had initially turned down their appeals.
Hrimat made no mistake from the spot on 40 minutes, cooly placing it into the bottom corner as he sent Sundowns keeper Ronwen Williams the wrong way.
Abdelfettah Hadraf fired wide for the home side, while Brayan Leon forced a good save from Tagnaouti as he connected with Lunga’s cross from the left.
But Sundowns did get their equaliser that proved all so important on the stroke of halftime.
Leon’s cross was flicked on by Tashreeq Matthews and Mokoena struck an absolute thunderbolt of a shot from the edge of the box that crashed into the goal off the underside of the crossbar.
He has scored some incredible goals in his career, but this was one of his best in terms of quality and significance. It left AS FAR needing to score two more.
Sundowns introduced Chilean midfielder Marcelo Allende for Lethlaku to reinforce the centre of the park, while it was also confirmed at the break that Sundowns had their reserve keeper Denis Onyango red carded for something that happened off the pitch.
Hadraf was lucky not to receive a straight red card for a headbutt on Sundowns’ Jayden Adams that only drew a yellow in a perplexing decision from the match officials.
Sundowns settled into a pattern of defending what they had and put bodies behind the ball, leaving Leon to plough a lone attacking role up front.
AS FAR were awarded a second penalty when Williams brought down Youssef El Fahli after the gloveman spilled a routine shot and then tackled the striker as he tried to regather the ball.
But this time Williams dived to his left and pulled off a superb save to deny AS FAR a way back into the game.
