CAF Champions League
ANCIENT RIVALRY REKINDLED AS ENYIMBA DRAW HOROYA
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Latent rivalry between Horoya of Guinea and Nigerian clubs will be reignited when the CAF Confederation Cup resumes at the quarterfinals stage.
The Guinean club has been drawn to face Nigeria’s Enyimba. Horoya has had confrontations with Nigerian clubs in the 1970s and 1980s.
The club eliminated Shooting Stars in the second round of the 1978 edition of the then African Winners Cup following a 3-1 win in Ibadan by the Nigerian side and 0-3 loss in Conakry.
Another Ibadan-based side, Leventis United has a goalless outing with Horoya in 1985, but advanced 0 away goal rule after a 1-1 draw in Conakry.
It is that latent rivalry that the quarterfina fixture of the Confederation Cup will reignite.
The full fixtures:
*Zanaco (Zambia) vs Pyramids (Egypt)
*El Nasr (Libya) vs Hassania Agadir (Morocco)
*Al Masry (Egypt) vs RS Berkane (Morocco)
*Enyimba (Nigeria) vs Horoya (Guinea)
In the more lucrative Champions League which coincidentally packed past winners together, some interesting pairings are thrown up.
Holders Esperance of Tunisia were drawn against five-time winners, Zamalek of Egypt. The two clubs will also face other in the CAF Super Cup 2020 on 14 February 2020 in Doha, Qatar.
After, they will battle it out for a place at the last four of the premier continental club championship.
Eight-time winners Al Ahly will face Mamelodi Sundowns of Africa in a repeat of last year’s quarters clash.
DR Congo giants TP Mazembe will be up against Raja Club Athletic, whilst Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia will have to contend with Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco.
The draw took place today in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, with former DR Congo forward Shabani Nonda and former Cote d’Ivoire defensive midfielder Didier Zokora assisting CAF Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu to conduct the draw.
Full fixtures;
*Al Ahly (Egypt) vs Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
*Raja Club Athletic (Morocco) vs TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
*Zamalek (Egypt) vs Esperance (Tunisia)
*Wydad Club Athletic (Morocco) vs Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia)
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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