CAF Confederation Cup
DESPERATE ENYIMBA NOW HOST ORLANDO PIRATE IN ABA
Enyimba players have Herculean task on Wednesday as they face a zero option in their final Group A tie with Orlando Pirates of South Africa.
Anything short of an outright win will condemn the two-time African champions to elimination from the continent’s second-tier competition after their earlier slide from the premier championship, the Champions League.
Even a win against Orlando Pirates on Wednesday may not translate to qualification for the quarter finals.
Enyimba will still be hoping that last placed ES Setif of Algeria make maximum use of their home advantage to neutralise second-placed Ahli Benghazi of Libya in an encounter in which regional solidarity may play a key role.
Should Ahly Benghazi beat Setif in the away duel, it will be adios for Enyimba in the competition.
Little wonder then that Enyimba had to seek authorisation to host the Pirates in their Aba fortress after it was understood that the Nigerian government may not wish to host South Africans on Nigerian home soil owing to the special variant of Covid-19 prevalent in South Africa.
It was for that reason that Rivers United had to play their home match away from Nigeria in their encounter with Celtic Bloemfontein late last year.
At the time, Rivers United were already coasting to an impressive victory after their 2-0 away win. Enyimba do not have such advantage and will want to make effective use of home ground.
After much consultations and deliberations, it’s now confirmed that they will host their counterparts from South Africa Orlando Pirates at the Enyimba International Stadium.
Just before the match-day 4 against Ahli Benghazi of Libya, there were speculations on the venue where the People’s Elephants will play the final home game.
However, it was confirmed on Monday morning that the match has finally being agreed to be played at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba.
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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