CAF Confederation Cup
SOUTH AFRICA’S TS GALAXY DECLARE WAR ON ENYIMBA
TS Galaxy are hard at work in preparation for an uphill battle against Nigeria’s Enyimba in the return leg of the Playoff of the Total CAF Confederation Cup.
Having suffered a 2-0 defeat in Aba last Sunday, Galaxy have a huge task of reversing a two-goal deficit against the two-time African champions.
However, Galaxy have established themselves as giant slayers and Sunday’s fixture provides the perfect opportunity to live up to their reputation that saw them shock Kaizer Chiefs at a packed Moses Mabhida stadium in the final of the Nedbank Cup (South Africa’s version of the FA Cup).
An aggregate win for “The Rockets”, as the Mpumalanga based club is affectionately known, would see them engrave their names in the African history books by the joining the elite league of second-tier clubs to reach the group stage of a CAF competition.
In 2005, Egyptian side Arab Contractors started their campaign in the CAF Confederation Cup whilst in the second-tier of Egyptian football; however by the time of the group stage they were back in the Egyptian top flight.
For South African football, this is the second time a club from the lower ranks competes in the CAF Confederation Cup following Black Leopards’ run which came short of the group stages after being edged 3-2 on aggregate by Sudanese club, Al Merreikh back in 2012.
Speaking to CAFOnline.com earlier this week, Galaxy captain and goalkeeper, Ludwe Mpakumpaku said nothing was impossible and they would have to approach the match on Sunday like men going to war against the Nigerian powerhouse.
“We need to approach the game like men going to war! We know that we are on the backfoot and that requires us to go out there and get goals.
“The match will be a great test of character and the only way for us to win the psychological battle is to get an early goal because that would put them under pressure and give us the confidence to go at them even more” said the shot-stopper.
Galaxy will be wary of the danger posed by Victor Mbaoma and Marins Usule who scored in the 7th and 60th minutes respectively. The duo were quite a handful for the second tier side who held their own against the favourites.
The likes of Khayelihle Shozi, Sizwe Mdlinzo and Nation Ndlovu will have to be on song on Sunday and make the team tick to break the stubborn Enyimba defence who will know exactly how to approach such a game from their years of experience travelling and competing on the continent.
Meanwhile, Bidvest Wits have put one foot in the group stages with an important 2-1 away win in Mozambique against UD Songo last weekend ahead of Sunday’s return fixture.
A goal by Namibian international Deon Hotto and Sameehg Doutie put the “Students” in a relatively good position to secure a group stage pass should they hold off the reigning champions of Mozambique.
While Bidvest Wits club owner, Jose Ferreira was earlier in the year quoted as saying the CAF Confederation Cup was not a priority for the club, coach Gavin Hunt will be looking at using the competition to further improve his impressive CV as a coach on the continent.
Having won four league titles, three with Supersport Untied and one with Bidvest Wits, the 53-year-old knows the pedigree a CAF title holds on a coach’s CV.
“We want to go to the group stage. I want to win and was brought into the club to win trophies, so every competition is important. We fighting way above our weight with the number of players we have.
“We have a squad of 21 while other teams have 35 but that has not stopped us” said Hunt speaking to the public broadcaster earlier this week.
Fixtures
SUNDAY
- Nairobi Bandari (Kenya) vs Horoya (Guinea) (2-4)
- Cairo Pyramids (Egypt) vs Young Africans (Tanzania) (2-1)
- Nelspruit TS Galaxy (South Africa) vs Enyimba (Nigeria) (0-2)
- Abidjan San Pedro (Cote d’Ivoire) vs Asante Kotoko (Ghana) (0-1)
- Algiers Paradou (Algeria) vs KCCA (Uganda) (0-0)
- Kinshasa Motema Pembe (DR Congo) vs Gor Mahia (Kenya) (1-1)
- Johannesburg Bidvest (South Africa) vs UD Songo (Mozambique) (2-1)
- Bamako Djoliba (Mali) vs Elect Sport (Chad) (1-0)
- Agadir HUSA (Morocco) vs Green Eagles (Zambia) (1-1)
- Lusaka Zanaco (Zambia) vs Cano Sport (Equatorial Guinea) (3-1)
- Berkane RS Berkane (Morocco) vs Fosa Juniors (Madagascar) (0-2)
- Alexandria El Masry (Egypt) vs Cote d’Or (Seychelles) (4-0)
- Enugu Rangers (Nigeria) vs ASC Kara (Togo) (1-2)
- Bulawayo Triangle (Zimbabwe) vs Nouadhibou (Mauritania)
TUESDAY
- Kampala Proline (Uganda) vs El Nasr (Libya) (2-2)
- Cotonou ESAE (Benin) vs Generation Foot (Senegal) (1-0)
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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