CAF Champions League
GOR MAHIA STAR OUT OF CLASH WITH LOBI STARS
A star player will be missing from the Gor Mahia side when they face Nigeria’s Lobi Stars on Saturday in the reverse leg of the CAF Champions League first round fixture.
The combative midfielder Ernest Wendo will be a glaring absentee. He is suspended having picked his second booking in the competition in their 3-1 win over Lobi Stars on Sunday at Kasarani.
Nigeria’s Lobi Stars will be attempting a two goal margin win without conceding to advance to the group stage. Failure will see the side dropping into play-off for a place in the second tier CAF Confederation Cup.
For the Kenyans, they target an historic group stage qualification into the money-spinning Champions League. Gor Mahia, winners of the Mandela Cup in 1987 have never progressed to the group stages of the Champions League since the new format was adopted in 1997.
Their qualification to the group stages of the Confederations Cup last season was their first ever in the new era of CAF continental club football.
Their 26-man team is expected in Abuja later on Friday before taking a chatter flight to Enugu. The squad made a two-day stopover in Accra, Ghana.
The Kenyan side is being handled by a Cypriot coach, Hassan Oktay who is barely a month on the saddle. He might ink his name into the history books of Gor Mahia if he manages to avoid defeat to Lobi Stars.
It will be a follow up on Kenya’s success of a first
ever Confederations Cup group stage spot last season.
The tactician who joined Gor Mahia just before their preliminary round game
against Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi is confident his boys have what it takes to
achieve the historic feat.
“When I came here, I knew the targets of Gor Mahia are big and my targets are also big. My objective is to see this team qualify for the group stages and one day soon, maybe to win the title. It is possible because we have a group of hungry players who want to do well and achieve big things,” Oktay said.
K’Ogalo, as the record 17-time Kenyan Premier League champions are known
convincingly won the first leg 3-1 in Nairobi last weekend and though Oktay was
disappointed that the scoreline wasn’t bigger basing on the chances they had,
he knows they can achieve another win away from home.
“They are a tough team but we should have won by a bigger margin in the first
leg. But we go away and we have to keep working hard. We need to improve a bit
in the finishing and we will be okay. We have to avoid conceding first because
that will put us under pressure,” the coach offered.
His sentiments were shared by the captain, Harun Shakava who believes the team
has what it takes to get into the group stages and has cautioned his teammates
not to lower their guard despite what looks like a comfortable first leg lead.
“They scored an away goal and that is something that will put us on our toes.
If we can score first then I think that will calm us down. But it will not be
easy. They are a very tough team and playing at home, we expect them to be even
better,” Shakava said.
He added; “We know that we are on the brink of history. Last year we lost by a
very slim margin to Esperance and we learnt our lessons. This time, we want to
do better and I know we are capable as a team. We have worked hard and gained
some very good momentum.”
The coach is lamenting the absence of Ernest Wendo, but he believes the squad is big enough to fill up the void and field a strong team in Nigeria.
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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