Orange CAF Confederation Cup comeback experts Petro Atletico repeated the feat at the weekend to secure a last-16 place. The Angolan petroleum company club scored three goals in a 13-minute second half blitz to crush Ghanaians Ebusua Dwarfs 4-0 in a first round, second leg qualifier. Petro, who came closest to African glory by finishing 1997 CAF Cup runners-up, advanced 4-2 on aggregate having lost 2-0 in Ghana last weekend.
In the preliminary round of the second-tier CAF club competition last month, Petro ousted Namibians African Stars after wiping out another two-goal first-leg deficit. A couple of ‘golden oldies’ inflicted most of the damage on Dwarfs with Flavio bagging a brace and Gilberto also among the scorers at Estadio 11 Novembro. Striker Flavio scored the lone first half goal and wide midfielder Gilberto tied the aggregate score with a second after 73 minutes. Flavio netted again eight minutes from time and Senegalese Ladji Keita raised his Confederation Cup goal tally to three by finding the net. Gilberto and Flavio will know plenty about second round opponents Ismaily having spent many seasons at fellow Egyptian club Al-Ahly.
Former African champions Ismaily needed a penalty shootout at home to eliminate Democratic Republic of Congo team MK Etancheite after two goalless stalemates. Nigerians Warri Wolves advanced despite being held 1-1 at home by Cameroonians Union Douala, who had lost at home the previous weekend. Both goals came from second half spot-kicks with Musa Najare putting Wolves ahead and Djan Tchan Christian levelling in the final minute. Tunisians CA Bizertin will be the next opponents of Warri, who hope to advance beyond the second round for the first time in three Confederation Cup appearances.
Ali Machani and Senegalese Youssoupha Mbengue scored to give Bizertin a 2-0 win over Angolans Desportivo Huila. The tie had effectively been settled a week before with the 2013 Confederation Cup semi-finalists winning 1-0 in south-west Africa. Another North African club to coast into the next round were Moroccans El Jadida with an Ayoub Nanah hat-trick triggering the 4-0 rout of Gambians Gamtel. Nanah netted twice in the 2-0 first-leg win and lies joint second in the leading Confederation Cup scorers chart, one goal behind Zimbabwean Kudakwashe Musharu.
South Africans SuperSport United endured five anxious minutes in Nairobi during a 2-2 draw with Kenyans AFC Leopards. Defending a two-goal lead from Pretoria, SuperSport saw the advantage halved just after half-time when James Situma drove a weak clearance into the net. But a defence-splitting pass enabled Thuso Phala to level and leave Leopards needing three unanswered goals to survive. Kenyan substitute Jacob Keli ratted the crossbar before Sameegh Doutie put SuperSport ahead and Allan Wanga nodded a face-saving late equaliser.
Amara Malle was the toast of Malians Djoliba, runners-up to Congolese AC Leopards two seasons ago, after they scraped past Democratic Republic of Congo club Don Bosco. His goal five minutes before half-time in Bamako secured a 1-0 win and a second round place on the away-goal rule. Egyptians Wadi Degla and Algerians CS Constantine achieved 2-0 home victories over Togolese AS Douanes and Liberians Red Lions respectively to also advance.
Courtesy of AFP
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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