CAF Champions League
PLATEAU UNITED HAVE A HUGE MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB IN CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TIE
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
On account of their high altitude domain, Plateau United may have been used to mountain climbing, but this weekend, they have a huge one to climb as they engage Simba Lions of Tanzania in the return leg of the opening round of the CAF Champions League.
Plateau United carry a deficit 1-0 from Jos. If they fail to advance, they become the first Nigerian clubside to lose to Simba Lions.
Encounters of Nigerian clubs with Simba Lions have been very rare as there have been just two teams that faced the Tanzanian side in the 56 years of the African inter-clubs competition.
The two teams, though now defunct, are Water Corporation of Ibadan and Raccah Rovers of Kano. The latter beat Simba Lions 2-0 in Lagos in 1979 and played goalless in a tragedy-laden return match with Simba in Dar es Salaam as a Simba player, Hussein Tindawa collapsed on the pitch and died.
Water Corporation on the other hand played goalless with Simba in Lagos in the then 1977 African Cup of Champions’ Clubs but won 1-0 in the return leg in Dar es Salaam to advance to the next round.
The feat of Water Corporation 43 years ago is what is expected that Plateau United will replicate.
But it may not be an easy task as even the winners of the first leg, Simba have been advised against complacency.
Tanzania Daily News has put an advisory to Simba Lions. It warned the club not to think that the job was already done with their 1-0 away win in Jos.
“The Nigerian champions have come to Tanzania like wounded bull, hence Simba should take the encounter very seriously and treat it the way they treated their first leg match”, the paper wrote.
It further warned that this weekend match with Plateau United should not be taken as a downhill task.
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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