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CAF Champions League

GOR MAHIA STAR OUT OF CLASH WITH LOBI STARS

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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

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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CAF Champions League

VIDEO: Controversial penalty kick remains a talking point in Remo Stars’ elimination

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Benin Republic’s Adissa Abdul Raphiou Ligali awarded a 78th minute penalty kick that sealed Remo Stars hopes.

But for the questionable penalty kick awarded for AS FAR of Morocco in the 78th minute of the tension-soaked CAF Champions League duel with Remo Stars on Sunday in Rabat, the complexion of the final result as well as the aggregate scorelines may have been different.

Match scoreline stood at 1-1 before the referee, Adissa Abdul Raphiou Ligali of Benin Republic, who was midway to the centre circle suddenly blew his whistle and awarded a penalty kick to the hosts.

Before then, all body contacts had been ruled against Remo Stars. Even, the Moroccans looked amused when the referee, who was off the scene suddenly ran into the penalty area and awarded a penalty kick for an incident, even if  it were an infraction, happened outside the penalty box.

The award of the penalty kick and the conversion by El Amine Zouhzouh, literaly sealed Remo Stars thin hope of advancing.

The Nigerian side left it too late as they only came out to attack after their hopes had been sealed.

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In starting the crucial match, their lead scorer, Sikiru Alimi and assist master, Sodiq Ismail were brought in only after the damage had been done. It was after the first goal in the 51st minute that Alimi was brought in in the 54th minute.

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