CAF Confederation Cup
Rivers Utd, Plateau Utd bounce back into CAF Confederation Cup reckoning
The duo of Nigeria teams – Rivers United and Plateau United – moved close into getting into the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup after posting impressive results in their first leg matches against Libyan oppositions.
Rivers United had an emphatic 5-0 win over Al Nasr at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt while at the Abuja MKO Abiola National Stadium, Plateau United beat Al Akhdar 4-1.
Plateau United will advance if they avoid a 3-0 loss in the return leg. In the case of Rivers United, they are as good as flowing into the Confederation Cup group phase except they concede anothe 6-0 loss in the away match.
Their 6-0 loss in Morocco last month is the heaviest defeat ever inflicted on a Nigerian club since the country’s debut in the continent in 1968.
At the Adokiye Amasiamaka Stadium Rivers United kept the home fans agog going into the offensive rightfrom the kick-off.
They got the opener in the 11th minute via a penalty kick when Paul Acquah was brought down in the box by the Libyan goalkeeper.
The spot kick was well converted by Ebube Duru in the 12th minute before Kazie Enyinnaya doubled Rivers United’s lead three minutes later.
Acquah made it 3-0 just before the half time and ensured that Rivers returned to the locker room with a comfortable lead.
Rivers United got another penalty in the 63rd minute and was converted by Duru to make 4-0 and his brace while Malachi Ohahume wrapped up the game in the 74th minute and handed a comprehensive 5-0 win to the Nigerian side.
In Abuja, Plateau United gave their numerous fans a lot to cheer with a 4-1 win against Al Akhdar of Libya at the at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
Just like Rivers United, Plateau United dominated the game and their efforts off paid earlier with an opening goal from Mustapha Yuga in the 27th minute.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel added the second goal just before halftime and handed the host a well-deserved 2-0 lead.
Albert Hilary scored the third goal in the 53rd minute but the assistant referee flagged him offside but he had his name on the scorer’s sheet with fantastic goal in the 75th minute.
The visitors reduced the deficit in the 85th minute before Hilary completed his brace in the 90th minute and secured a 4-1 win for the Nigeria side.
The reverse fixture of the matches holds next week.
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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