CAF Confederation Cup
VIDEO: ENYIMBA, OTHERS IN FAIRY TALES AND COMEBACKS ON THE ROAD TO SEMIS
Nigeria’s Enyimba and three other clubs have titanic battles on Sunday as the second legs of the CAF Confederation Cup hold.
With two sides on the brink of last four places after convincing away victories, there will be more to watch on Sunday when the second leg matches of the CAF Confederation Cup 2019/20 quarterfinals take place across the continent
Moroccan side Hassania Agadir and Egyptian side Pyramids have an obvious advantage when they entertain Libya’s Al Nasr and Zambia’s Zanaco respectively, having won away from home by wide margins. Meanwhile, last season’s losing finalists RS Berkane will host Al Masry having held them to an away draw; the same scenario for Guinea’s Horoya against Nigerian visitors Enyimba.
The aggregate winners will progress to reach the semifinals, with hopes of a maiden CAF Confederation Cup title the biggest inspiration for the octet.
Pyramids (Egypt) – Zanaco (Zambia) (3-0)
(Sunday 08.03.2020 – 13:00 GMT, Cairo)
The debutants’ fairytale seems to have another chapter looming, as Pyramids returned from Lusaka with a three goal lead over Zanaco to put a leg into the last four in their first ever CAF appearance. Veteran Abdullah Elsaid put the cherry on top of the cake in Zambia, after Ali Gabr and Mohamed Farouk scored in the opening half, as Pyramids cruised to yet another away victory, their seventh in a row in this campaign.
Despite the fact that they are having their debut continental participation, Pyramids have set themselves as title favorites. Zanaco are facing an uphill to climb at the Cairo based 30 June Stadium where they need to score at least three unanswered goals to force the game into a shootout. They have to do so against a team that just conceded three times in six CAF home games this season.
Horoya (Guinea) – Enyimba (Nigeria) (1-1)
(Sunday 08.03.2020 – 16:00 GMT, Conakry)
Boniface Haba came from the bench to score 20 minutes from time and cancel Augustine Oladapo’s opener for Enyimba, as Horoya came back from Aba with a precious away 1-1 draw. Two times African champions Enyimba now have to score in Conakry if they are to reach the CAF Confederation Cup semifinal for the second time, after 2018 when they lost to eventual champions Raja of Morocco.
Horoya look favorites to finish the job at their home, Stade du 28 Septembre, where they have won all their 6 CAF matches this season. After reaching the quarterfinals of the premier CAF Champions League in the last two seasons, “H.A.C” are targeting a further step in the second tier continental competition this season.
Hassania Agadir (Morocco) – Al Nasr (Libya) (5-0)
(Sunday 08.03.2020 – 16:00 GMT, Agadir)
Mission looks done and dusted for Hassania Agadir who returned from Egyptian capital Cairo with a five goal lead over hosts Al Nasr. Karim El Berkaoui’s hat-trick coupled with Malick Cisse’s brace gave “HUSA” a commanding away lead that they look poised to defend at home and grab their semifinal ticket.
Al Nasr who are forced to play away from their Benghazi base due to security concerns in Libya reached the quarterfinals for the first time in their history, and were hoping of a further step. But they had to wake up against a resolute Hassania side, that are looking for their first ever continental glory after being eliminated from last season’s quarterfinals against eventual champions Zamalek of Egypt.
RS Berkane (Morocco) – Al Masry (Egypt) (2-2)
(Sunday 08.03.2020 – 19:00 GMT, Berkane)
After last season’s heartbreaking final defeat on penalties, RS Berkane are aiming for another shot on the second tier continental club competition yet again. They are one step away from the semifinals, after returning from Egypt with a 2-2 away draw against Al Masry.
Veteran Mohssine Iajour scored a brace before and after Muftah Taktak and an own goal from his goalkeeper Zouheir Laaroubi, as the Suez duel between both sides ended in a 2-2 draw; a result that may favor “The Oranges” to settle things at Stade Municipal de Berkane. Al Masry need to score and avoid conceding away if they are to repeat their 2018 feat when they reached the semis before bowing to DR Congo’s AS Vita then.
-CAF
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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