CAF Champions League
Rivers United Awaits Confederation Cup Foes
Two former winners in CAF’s inter-clubs competitions will on Wednesday star in the draw for the league segment of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
They are Egypt’s Wael Gomaa and DR Congo’s Tresor Mputu Mabi. The www.sportsvillagesquare.com gathered that CAF chose them for their exploits in the continental clubs competitions.
Gomaa and Mputu are famous names with the African Club Championships, having lifted the Holy Grail of continental club football at least once. The 41 year old Gomaa, who retired in 2014, won unprecedented six CAF Champions League titles with Egyptian giants, Al Ahly in 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2013, as well as five CAF Super Cup titles.
The rugged defender was a member of the Ahly ‘golden generation’ together with the likes of Essam El Hadary, Mohamed Aboutreika, Mohamed Barakat and Shady Mohamed that dominated African football at their peak.
He also bagged over 100 appearances with the Egypt national team appearing in five successive finals of the Africa Cup of Nations – 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010; and being on the victorious side three times – 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The www.sportsvillagesquare.com also gathered that Congolese Mputu who is 31, is undoubtedly one of the most skillful players of his generation domestically and beyond.
Top scorer in the continental club championships with 43 goals, he remains an iconic figure in his native DR Congo especially with Lubumbashi outfit, TP Mazembe, where he is idolized.
He was one of the pillars behind the rise to fame of Mazembe in the mid 2000’s guiding them to CAF Champions League glory in 2009 and the CAF Super Cup same year.
After a brief stint with Kabuscorp of Angola, he rejoined ‘Les Corbeaux’ in late 2016 and has continued to impress.
The offensive mid fielder was also revelation of the maiden edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cote d’Ivoire, where he was adjudged the Most Valuable Player as DR Congo won the title.
The two players will assist CAF Acting General Secretary, Essam Ahmed, to conduct the draw to be attended by officials of the participating clubs.
Nigeria’s sole survivor into the second round of the CAF Champions League, Enugu Rangers have crashed out of the competition. They lost 3-1 to Angola’s Sagrada Esperança this Sunday in Luanda.
The aggregate scoreline is 3-2 as Rangers last weekend won their home game 1-0. Sagrada Esperança opened the game with offensive and got their first goal barely six minutes into the game when Alexandre Fernando found the back of the net.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 33rd minute through Mussa. But four minutes later, Enugu Rangers reduced the tally to 2-1 to carry an away goal advantage into half time.
Jamie Pimpao got the much needed goal for Angola in the 67th minute to seal the hopes of Rangers.
Sagrada Esperança will now go into next month’s draw for the draw of the group stage.
CAF Champions League 2nd Preliminary Round action resumed on Saturday, 14 September following the resumption of the Africa’s premium club competition on Friday.
It was mostly the travelling teams that secured victories away from home on Saturday, who put themselves in fairly comfortable situations ahead of the return leg next week.
Orlando Pirates had a mental obstacle to overcome in Gaborone against Jwaneng Galaxy, having to face the same side that eliminated them in the same phase of the competition last season.
The former champions secured a 2-0 victory in Gaborone to put themselves in a comfortable position ahead of the return leg next weekend.
Five-time champions, TP Mazembe were away to Red Arrows in Zambia where they also put two past their hosts ahead of the return leg in Lubumbashi.
Mamelodi Sundowns, who played their away match in the comfort of their home stadium against Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows made use of home ground advantage with a comfortable 4-0 win over their neighbours.
Tanzanian champions, Young Africans secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over CBE SA of Rwanda as Tanzanian giants continue to chase a continental title.
It was a rather tough outing for Moroccan outfit, AS FAR when they travelled to Sudan to face Al Merrikh. A highly entertaining encounter concluded with a 2-2 draw, ahead of the return leg in Morocco.
Egyptian side, Pyramids FC also played out to a draw when they were held 1-1 by APR FC in Rwanda.
Burkina Faso side, Association Sportive des Douanes out up an impressive showing when they edged Algeria’s CR Belouizdad by 1-0.
The first leg of the 2nd Preliminary Round concludes on Sunday, with five interesting encounters lined up, including reigning champions Al Ahly kick starting their title defense away from home.
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Results & Fixtures:
Friday, 13 September
Enugu Rangers 1 – 0 Sagrada Esperanca
Monastir 0 – 1 MC Alger
Saturday, 14 September
CBE SA 0 – 1 Young Africans
Red Arrows 0 – 2 TP Mazembe
Al-Merrikh 2 – 2 AS FAR
Jwaneng Galaxy FC 0 – 2 Orlando Pirates FC
Maniema Union 2 – 1 Petro de Luanda
Djoliba 1 – 0 ASKO
Douanes 1 – 0 CR Belouizdad
Sunday, 15 September
12h00 GMT | Gor Mahia vs Al Ahly
15h00 GMT | Samartex vs Raja CA
16h00 GMT | San Pedro vs Al-Hilal
16h00 GMT | Dekedaha vs ES Tunis
19h00 GMT | Stade d’Abidjan vs Milo FC
The return leg fixtures of the 2nd Preliminary stage will be played between 20 – 22 September.
-CAF
Enugu Rangers’ patchy form in the CAF Champions League continues as they struggled to beat visiting Angola’s Sagrada Esperance 1-0 in the first leg match played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
It was in similar fashion that they played against Union Sportive de Zilimadjou of Comoros Islands who they beat 2-1 over two legs in Uyo.
Rangers’ lone goal was scored by Kazeem Ogunleye in the 80th minute.
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