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CAF Champions League

BEHOLD! THOSE TO DETERMINE ENYIMBA AND OTHERS’ FATE

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Former DR Congo forward Shabani Nonda and former Cote d’Ivoire defender Didier Zokora will assist the draw for the knockout stages of the CAF Champions League 2019/20 and CAF Confederation Cup 2019/20 later this Wednesday evening in Cairo, Egypt.

 

The duo will join CAF Director of Competitions, Nigeria’s Samson Adamu for the draw featuring the surviving eight teams from the two competitions for the next phase.

Nonda, 42, is widely regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. A member of the DR Congo squad that featured at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, he is fondly remembered for his stints with French side Monaco between 2005 and 2005. He also starred for Stade Rennais (France), Roma (Italy), Blackburn Rovers (England) and Galatasaray (Turkey).

Having made over 120 appearances for Cote d’Ivoire, Zokora is fondly called ‘Maestro’.

A product of the globally renowned ASEC Mimosas Academy, the defensive midfielder participated in six Africa Cup of Nations (2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013), reaching the final in 2006 and 2012. Zokora was a member of Les Elephants squad that qualified for their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2006 in Germany, replicating the feat in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).

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He enjoyed an illustrious playing career donning the shirts of the like of Racing Genk (Belgium), Saint-Etienne (France), Tottenham Hotspurs (England), Sevilla (Spain), Trabzonspor (Turkey), Pune City (India) amongst others. He retired in 2017 after a short stint with Indonesian side Semen Padang.

The qualified teams for the CAF Champions League are Al Ahly, Zamalek (Egypt), Wydad Athletic Club, Raja Club Athletic (Morocco), Esperance, Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia), TP Mazembe (DR Congo) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa).

For the CAF Confederation Cup, the octet for the knockout stage include Pyramids, Al Masry (Egypt), RS Berkane, Hassania Agadir (Morocco), Horoya (Guinea), Zanaco (Zambia), Al Nasr (Libya) and Enyimba (Nigeria).

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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CAF Champions League

Enugu Rangers crash out of Champions League

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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.

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CAF Champions League: Travelling teams secure victories on the road

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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-CAF

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CAF Champions League

Enugu Rangers in slim CAF Champions League win over Angola’s Sagrada Esperanca

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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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