Mamelodi is victim of one of harshest schedules ever. They had to play so many postponed matches, they played CWC, Supercup, now CL. I thought they will, as result of it, flop in CL, but they were lucky to progress. I hope KCCA qualifies to CC group stage. Merreikh scores at the start against Rivers, should be interesting tie as home team is in chase for three goals. Coton Sport qualified for the fourth time (last in 2013) over CNaPS (2-1 on aggregate; same wish for them as for KCCA), Zanaco qualified (for the very first time) over Young Africans on away goals, Wydad qualified on penalties against Mounana who scored in injury time to get match to penalties. USM Alger joins teams above after defeating Kadiogo 2-1 on aggregate. Merreikh is two goals up after 25 minutes.
Al Ahly knock out Bidvest Wits 1-0 on aggregate. Great game of football with Wits having the lions share of possession (about 70%) and the majority of chances (11 shots and 9 on target). Sherrif Ekramy making brilliant saves and being saved by the pole on one occasion. Al Ahly came to defend but had the odd chance here and there and should have wrapped the tie up late in the game with a counter attack that led to them hitting the pole. 0-0 the final score.
Ferroviario Beira knocked Barrack Young Controllers on penalties and secured group stage debut. Beside them, Esperance and Setif along with Zamalek and Vita Club qualified. Few facts: There are five teams making their debut in group stage, Ethiopia got their first team in group stage. Mozambique has representative after 15 years (2002 last time). Saint George of Ethiopia was eliminated 12 times before this qualification so 13 is their lucky number. Ferroviario qualified in their first ever CL participation. Al-Ahly and Esperance will be part of group stage for the 14th time. APR and Stade Malien are now on 14 participations without group stage qualification.
Pots: Al Ahly, Zamalek, Etoile Sahel, Mamelodi Sundowns Al-Hilal, Esperance, Wydad, USM Al-Merrikh, Coton Sport, Vita, Al Ahly Tripoli Saint George, Ferroviario, Zanaco, CAPS There will surely be one group with three Arab teams. I hope there will be country protection rule. Along with Confederation Cup, countries with all teams still in are Tunisia and Egypt with 2+2 and Morocco and South Africa with 1+3. Nigeria is on course to lose all of their four teams as both CC teams are out and both teams that will take part in playoff look poor. Disaster. Congo has only AC Leopard left (out of four), Cameroon too (Coton Sport in CL group stage). Mali is the worst as they lost all four teams - Djoliba and Onze had to forfeit as their FA got suspended last week. I'd love to see Mbabane Swallows from CC path and Port Louis / CNaPS / GPA from CL path paired in playoff.
Confederation Cup playoff draw Bidvest will travel to Egypt once again. I hope to see better turnout of home fans in South Africa, empty stadium against continent's biggest team was a disgrace. TPM - JSK seems to be most exciting match along with Morrocan match FUS - MAS.
Bidvest Wits aren't a well supported team at all. They only have full stadiums when they give tickets to the local residence students at the university. Otherwise their attendance is normally what you saw on Sunday. Al Ahly are not really anything to excite South African fans. For all intents and purposes, Kaizer Chiefs is the biggest club in the continent to South Africans lol it probably is a close second to al Ahly in reality. But al Ahly just don't draw fans in other countries. I guess African football isn't at a stage where foreign teams can draw crowds in other countries besides their neighboring countries. Good game!
Unbelievable result by Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland. They lost game 1 of Confederation Cup in Congo to Leopard 1-0, trailed 1-2 at home in the middle of the second half. They needed three goals to qualify and they delivered. 4-2 FT, Swazi team to group stage, their (and their league) first ever group stage qualification.
Budget wits knocked out 1-0 on aggregate by Smouha of Egypt. Wits clearly focusing all their energy on the league title race as they also got knocked out in the Nedbank Cup (South African FA Cup) a week or two ago to a second tier team. It's still disappointing though as us south Africans wanted good representation in the group stages
Kampala City Council secured Uganda's first ever group stage participation after penalties against El Masry. Horoya qualified for the very first time and will be first Guinea's representative since Fello Star in 2005. ZESCO United trashed Nigerian champions Enugu. Enugu is likely to get relegated in season where they defend Nigerian title.
Platinum stars of South Africa just knocked out AS Tanda of Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties after winning 2-0 at home in the second leg So four teams from Southern Africa so far: Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland) Zesco United (Zambia) Platinum stars (South Africa) Recreativo do Libolo (Angola) And possibly a 5th if Super sport win their match tonight
Yup Supersport through to the group stages after crushing Barrack Young Controllers 5-0 (6-1 on aggregate) thus making it 5 teams from Southern Africa and two south african teams in the group stage. That means that just under one 3rd of the teams come from Southern Africa
Rivers United is the last team to qualify to CC group stage and they "saved" Nigerian league. So, 32 teams in group stages of both competitions. Here is the breakdown (CL + CC): Tunisia 2 + 2 (100%) Egypt 2 + 1 Sudan 2 + 1 South Africa 1 + 2 Algeria 1 + 1 Congo DR 1 + 1 Morocco 1 + 1 Zambia 1 + 1 (100%) Cameroon 1 + 0 Ethiopia 1 + 0 Libya 1 + 0 Mozambique 1 + 0 Zimbabwe 1 + 0 Angola 0 + 1 Gabon 0 + 1 Guinea 0 + 1 Nigeria 0 + 1 Swaziland 0 + 1 Uganda 0 + 1 19 leagues will be represented in group stage, Swaziland and Uganda for the very first time (Ethiopian team with CL debut, they played in CC before). Congo, Ivory Coast and Mali are only leagues with 4 teams what won't have group stage representative. 16 national champions are in those 32, 10 + 6.
CL and CC draws were held yesterday in Cairo. Champions League Group A Etoile du Sahel El Hilal El Merreikh Ferroviario Beira Group B Zamalek USM Alger Ahli Tripoli Caps United Group C Mamelodi Sundowns Esperance AS Vita Saint-George Group D Al Ahly Wydad Athletic Club Coton Sport Zanaco Confederation Cup Group A FUS Rabat Club Africain Rivers United Kampala City Council Authority Group B CS Sfaxien Platinum Stars MC Alger Mbabanwe Swallows Group C Zesco United Recreativo do Libolo Al Hilal Elobeid Smouha Group D TP Mazembe Supersport United Horoya AC CF Mounana I still don't understand why they keep on drawing teams from same nations in same group. In both competitions quarter finals is A1vB2, C1vD2, B1vA2, D1vC2. #2 host first legs. Winner of A1vB2 plays C1vD2 in semis, same goes for B1vA2 and D1vC2. Hosts for semi finals and finals will be drawn later. Both competitions start on weekend 10-12 May.
Champions League: Group C is easily the group of death. Sundowns, Esperance and Vita should be a good tussle but I predict Sundowns will win the group I don't mind teams from the same nation playing against each other. Local rivalries are good sometimes for the tournament. This tournament should be the most interesting yet! Confederations Cup : Supersport and Mazembe will be a good clash but both should qualify from Group D The other groups should be harder to call and will be interesting to watch
Wow, I see my TV-platform is having Champions League from this season. Starts with Zamalek - CAPS tomorrow.
All favorites won today (with ease) while Sudanese derby ended in a 1-1 draw. Beautiful goal by Merreikh to level the score. Mamelodi starts defending the title tomorrow vs St. George. Horoya took a point at Supersport in CC in competition's only match today. I saw on twitter they were angry with Supersport because their bus came to hotel too late. P.S. Why do Moroccan teams play their home matches so late?
Al-Ahly and Mamelodi wrapped up first round of CL group stage with disappointing home draws against Zanaco and St. George respectively. Great day for Zambian football as ZESCO defeated Smouha 1-0, 4 pts today against Egyptian teams.
There is roughly 20 minutes until Bidvest Wits gets crowned for the very first time in South Africa with one round left. Mamelodi Sundowns crashed at the end of the season and will have to win on last day to secure 2018 CL berth. Wydad clinched the title in Morocco today, Esperance hosts Etoile tomorrow in title decider in Tunisia - Etoil wins with a win, else Esperance lifts the trophy.
Yup wits ended up winning the title for the first time in their 95 year history. Sundowns all but could firmed second place... The two giants of the south afrucan football completely underperformed with both Chiefs and pirates finishing outside the top 4. Next season will be one to watch out for