CAF Confederation Cup
ENUGU RANGERS END CONFEDERATION CUP DREAMS
FC Noaudhibou and Rangers chances of progressing to the knockout phases of the CAF Confederations Cup suffered a blow after they played to a 1-1 draw in Enugu on Sunday to see each move to two points after four matches.
With debutants, Egypt’s Pyramids continuing their fairy tale run in the CAF Confederations Cup, hitting fellow Egyptian side Al Masry 2-0 at the June 30 Stadium in Cairo on Sunday to become the first team to progress to the quarter finals, the two group slots are now destined for the Egyptian clubs.
Ibrahim Olawoyin rescued a point for the Nigerians with a second half penalty after Yasin Elwely had given Nouadhibou a first half lead.
The two sides will have to win both their remaining matches to have any realistic hope of progressing to the last eight with the Mauritanians playing away to second placed Al Masry and at home against leaders Pyramids while Rangers also face the two Egyptian teams in home and away alternates.
With only one point from three matches, Rangers were in danger of dropping off contention for a place at the quarters if they failed to earn maximum points. With this in mind, they went on attack from the first whistle.
Nnamdi Egbujuo missed a glorious chance in the 13th minute when he put in a poor shot from good scoring range inside the box after being sent through on goal by Emmanuel Madu.
Four minutes later, Kenechukwu Agu forced Nouadhibou keeper Drissa Kouyate into a full stretch save with a well taken shot from range.
For the missed chances, the Nigerian side was forced to pay after 22 minutes when the visitors got into the lead. Elwely struck a brilliant freekick from range, curling beautifully beyond the wall and beyond keeper Nana Bonsu.
Welly came close to doubling his tally just five minutes later, after Rangers lost the ball in a dangerous area in their own defensive third, but the forward’s shot didn’t gather enough strength behind it, keeper Bonsu collecting with ease.
In the second half, Rangers, pushed on by the home crowd surged in search of an equalizer and a winner to put their campaign back on track.
Their search bore fruit in the 67th minute when Olawoyin’s penalty sneaked beneath the keeper’s arms after Chinonso Eziekwe was appended inside the box by Sidi Yacoub.
The goal was a welcome relief for Rangers who received a huge confidence shot. They however dodged a bullet in the 71st minute when the visitors missed two back-to-back chances.
After losing the ball cheaply on the left, the ball was played to Elwely inside the box, but his shot was saved with only the keeper to beat.
The rebound fell on Jacob Depode who took a shot that deflected off Elwely, but the effort came against the bar.
No effort in the final 20 minutes could bear fruit for any side as they now head into two massive must win assignments.
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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