CAF Confederation Cup
EGYPT’S PYRAMIDS EYEING FIRST-LEG ADVANTAGE OVER NIGERIA’S ENYIMBA
Pyramids are picking themselves up following a stunning Egyptian league defeat as they host Nigeria’s Enyimba in the first leg of the Confederation Cup quarters
Egyptian side Pyramids FC will be looking to secure a comfortable first-leg advantage when they host Nigeria’s Enyimba in the African Confederation Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
Pyramids are eager to make up for last year’s agonizing defeat by Morocco’s RS Berkane in the Confederation Cup final, which left them waiting for their first piece of silverware.
The club have been spending big over the past few seasons after being bought by Arab Gulf investors, but they are still finding it difficult to challenge Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek for domestic honours.
But the Confederation Cup, Africa’s secondary club competition, represents a good chance for Pyramids to have a shot at what would be their first ever crown.
Pyramids have been inconsistent in the Egyptian Premier League lately, holding leaders Zamalek to a 1-1 draw and beating Wadi Degla 3-1 before suffering a stunning 4-2 loss to top-flight debutants Ceramica Cleopatra.
“We are seeking to get a good result in the home game that would help us continue our path towards the title,” the team’s Argentinean boss Rodolfo Arruabarrena told the pre-match news conference.
“We worked on getting the players mentally ready following the previous painful loss in the domestic league, which was the worst thing that happened to us this season.
“Enyimba have a strong frontline but we are keen to exploit their defensive problems,” he added.
Pyramids finished second in their group behind runaway leaders Raja of Morocco while Enyimba narrowly topped theirs ahead of South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
Enyimba will miss suspended winger Anayo Iwuala and defender defender Nabil Yarou, who was unable to travel to Egypt due to passport issues. Pyramids have an almost fully fit squad to choose from.
“It’s going to be a big match everybody knows that, pyramids FC over time they have really established themselves at the level of the continent and they are a formidable side any day any time,” Enyimba coach Fatai Osho said on the club’s official website.
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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