Matchday 2 of the CAF Confederation Cup group stage saw Zambia’s Nkana FC finally lose at home after an unbelievable 64-game unbeaten streak in African competitions as they lost to Morocco’s Raja Casablanca.
Group D
Nkana 2-0 Raja Casablanca
Soufiane Rahimi converted a 47th-minute penalty for the away side in Ndola and substitute Noah Sadaoui doubled the Moroccan team’s tally with a second goal in the 87th minute.
Rahimi was Morocco’s leading scorer when they won the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon. He has been on-song ever since.
The Moroccans were struggling before this game to gain any momentum in the continental competitions. They turned up, however, against a strong Nkana side to win the Group D match comfortably.
They now are tied in 1st with Egypt’s Pyramids in their group, leaving Namungo of Tanzania and Nkana pointless.
Namungo 0-1 Pyramids
Pyramids completed their 10 #CAFCC away games winning streak since their debut in 2019
??Etoile du Congo 0-1
??Belouizdad 0-1
??Yanga SC 1-2
??Enugu Rangers 1-3
??Al Masry 1-2
??Nouadhibou 0-1
?? Zanaco 0-3
?? Al-Ittihad 0-1
??Racing d’Abidjan 0-2
??Namungo 0-2 #consistency pic.twitter.com/GiKoTYRLAa— Samir Sylvestre Nsanzimana (@SamirSylva) March 17, 2021
Ramadan Sobhy and Omar Gaber scored in the second half as Pyramids defeated Namungo 2-0 in Dar es Salaam.
Pyramids, who lost to Renaissance Berkane of Morocco in the 2020 Confederation Cup final, are the only team with a perfect record in the African equivalent of the Europa League this season having won six matches.
Group A
Orlando Pirates 2-1 Enyimba
Great FIGHTING Spirit Buccaneers‼️
Amazing DETERMINATION from the hero of the day to go from missing a penalty to scoring the winning goal??@orlandopirates 2-1 @EnyimbaFC #CAFCC #TseNtsho?☠️?? pic.twitter.com/2xMvaJ8DlT
— Thandi Merafe (@thandi_399) March 17, 2021
South Africa’s Orlando Pirates have moved to the top of Group A, leapfrogging Enyimba as leaders of the Group of Death.
This is considered the toughest of the 4 groups in the competition and the Pirates victory was crucial. A late Tshegofatso Mabasa goal gave the South African side a 2-1 home victory over the Nigerians.
Mabasa missed a penalty earlier in the second half after Deon Hotto gave Pirates the lead in the 27th minute. Enyimba captain Austin Oladapo, however, pulled it back to level terms from the penalty spot just before half-time.
Al-Ahly Benghazi 1-0 ES Setif
70’ Houssem Ghacha gets his second yellow card and is sent off, only has himself to blame with that late challenge on the keeper #CAFCC pic.twitter.com/N8A0b0Lxc5
— DZfoot English ??⚽️ (@DZfoot_EN) March 17, 2021
In the same group, Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya won an important tie against Entente Setif of Algeria, which was a feisty game that saw both teams having a player sent off.
The Libyans, however, scored early on in the game through Jibreel Alwadawi who found the back of the net in the 3rd minute. Setif struggled to find their way back and things went from bad to worse for the away side as Houssam Ghacha was sent off in the 69th minute.
The North African matchup had more drama to follow as Abdallah Imhamed was sent off in the 76th minute that made Al-Ahly Benghazi nervous in the last 15 minutes or so but they held onto the win, which takes them to 3 points, tied with Nigeria’s Enyimba.
Group B
Coton Sport 2-0 RS Berkane
Current Confederations Cup champions RS Berkane lost for the first time in their defence of the title, going down 2-0 to Coton Sport in Cameroon.
Souaibou Marou and Sibiri Sanou scored in the second half to give the home side a big 3 points by upsetting the Moroccan giants. The win pushes the Cameroon club to 2nd place, ahead of Berkane on goal difference, just one point behind group leaders JS Kabylie of Algeria.
NAPSA Stars 2-2 JS Kabylie
?? STARS ABROAD|
David Owino was substituted in the 18th minute as Napsa Stars FC threw a two goal lead to record a 2-2 draw against Algerian side JS Kabylie in a #CAFCC game staged on Wednesday afternoon.
Keeper Shaban Odhoji was left on the bench.#Pepeta #TotalCAFCC pic.twitter.com/DtMQi3mSB0
— Pepeta ? (@pepeta_ke) March 17, 2021
Massinissa Nezla equalised in the dying moments of the game in the 90th minute, as the Algerian side JS Kabylie came back from two goals down to salvage a point with NAPSA Stars of Zambia in Lusaka.
Jimmy Mukeya and Doisy Soko scored for NAPSA in the 12th minute and 63rd minute. All seemed to be going well for the home team until the point when teammate Amos Simwanza conceded an own-goal to bring the visitors back into the game.
Nezla made sure to complete the comeback and help the Algerians pick up a crucial point that keeps them 1 point clear at the top of their group.
Group C
The Tunisian clubs had mixed luck in Group C in West Africa as CS Sfaxien drew 1-1 against Jaraaf in Senegal while Etoile du Sahel lost 1-0 to Salitas in Burkina Faso.
Jaraaf 1-1 CS Sfaxien
Mamadou Sylla rescued a point for Jaraaf by scoring in stoppage time (90+2′) after the away side from Sfax took the lead in the 70th minute through Kingsley Sokari.
Salitas 1-0 Etoile du Sahel
Olivier Stephane Boissy scored for Salitas in what ended up being the matchwinner, in the 82nd minute. This was his fifth goal of the campaign.
The remaining four matchdays of the CAF Confederation Cup are scheduled for April and the top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals.
Here are the standings after the first 2 matchdays.
Group A
- Orlando Pirates (South Africa) – 4 points
- Enyimba (Nigeria) – 3 points
- Al-Ahly Benghazi (Libya) – 3 points
- ES Setif (Algeria) – 1 point
Group B
- JS Kabylie (Algeria) – 4 points
- Coton Sport (Cameroon) – 3 points
- RSB Berkane (Morocco) – 3 points
- NAPSA Stars (Zambia) – 1 point
Group C
- CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) – 4 points
- Salitas (Burkina Faso) – 3 points
- Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) – 3 points
- ASC Jaraaf (Senegal) – 1 point
Group D
- Pyramids (Egypt) – 6 points
- Raja Casablanca (Morocco) – 6 points
- Namungo (Tanzania) – 0 points
- Nkana (Zambia) – 0 points
