Yanga march into CAF 1st round

YOUNG Africans booked their spot into the first round of CAF Champions League, following their 2-0 victory over Mauritius side Cercle de Joachim in the return leg of preliminary round tie at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Goals in each half by Burundian striker, Amissi Tambwe and Zimbabwean midfielder, Thaban Kamusoko were enough to give the home side a comfortable victory.

Yanga cruised into the first round of the continental top tier club championships following a 3-0 aggregate win over Mauritius side. The Jangwani Street side recorded a 1-0 victory in the first leg encounter held in Curepipe, Mauritius a fortnight ago.

Tambwe gave Hans Van der Pluijm side an early lead only three minutes after the kick-off, by nodding home into the back of the net from Simon Msuva’s cross.

Both sides wasted scoring chances in first and second minutes of the game. After the goal, both sides created scoring chances with Yanga having the lion share of the game squandering several scoring opportunities through Msuva, Tambwe and Malimi Busungu. Busungu was included in the first eleven, replacing the away match lone goal scorer, Donald Ngoma, who missed the match as he went back to his native country to attend his young brother’s funeral.

The host managed to create a number of scoring chances as they dominated the midfield, pouring forward in numbers as their opponents opted for a more defensive approach as part of the technique to contain the pressure.

Yanga introduced Paul Nonga for Busungu, who failed to shine in the game and later they called in Pato Ngonyani for Mbuyu Twite, the changes were rewarding as Yanga doubled their lead, making it an uphill task for their opponents to turn around the results.

Kamusoko, who dominated in the midfield, doubled his team’s lead in the second half from a long range shot, finishing off a pass from Haji Mwinyi in the 56th minute.

Other good chances for Yanga came in the 79th and 83rd minutes respectively, when Godfrey Mwaishuya, who came as a sub for Deus Kaseke, dribbled past several defenders and released a nice cross into the danger zone but unluckily Tambwe lost balance, in an attempt to score and the ball was cleared.

In the 83rd minute Msuva also failed to score as his shot inside the area sailed narrowly wide. Yanga will now face Rwanda’s champions APR, who beat Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland 4-2.

The next round of prestigious club competition will be held on the weekend of March 11-13, with the return leg to be played a week later. Defending champions TP Mazembe, Etoile du Sahel from Tunisia as well as Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Zamalek will all feature in the first round of the competition between March 11-20 after they were handed byes.

Zanzibar’s Mafunzo FC will be in Kinshasa to face AS Vita at Stade Tata Raphaël today. Mafunzo face an uphill task to make it into the next round after losing 3-0 in the first leg match in Zanzibar, some two weeks ago. Mafunzo need a 4-0 victory against their host in Kinshasa to guarantee themselves qualification to the first round, a task which is seen as too difficult or a daydream.

In Confederation Cup Zanzibar’s JKU has cruised into the first round with a battle following the withdrawal of Botswana’s Gaborone United SC, while their counterparts Azam FC have also cruised into the stage without battling and are scheduled to face South African side Bidvest Wits in the first leg match on March 12 in Johannesburg.

Meanwhile, Uganda’s Sports Club Villa has also progressed to the first round of the CAF Confederations Cup following their 1-0 victory in the return leg over Sudanese club, Al Khartoum Al Watani at Nakivubo Stadium in Kampala yesterday. Godfrey Lwesibawa’s powerfully executed header after 25 minutes was the match winner as Villa progress 2-0 on aggregate following their first leg 1-0 victory in Khartoum a fortnight ago.

The Sudanese side had missed a 10th minute penalty when team skipper, Abdalgabar Nagim, had his weak effort parried to the corner by goalkeeper Nicholas Sebwato. Sebwato had a slight touch onto the dreadlocked forward, Abubakri Razak following a defence splitter from Domonic Aboi.

In another CAF Champions League game, Kenya Premier League giants Gor Mahia have been knocked out of the 2016 CAF Champions league after going down on 1-3 aggregate difference against Madagascan CNaps. Gor Mahia suffered a 1-0 loss to the Madagascan in a return match played at Stade Rabemanajara, Mahajanga courtesy of Njiva in the 28th minute.

In the first leg match held in Nairobi the Kenyan champions suffered a 2-1 defeated. This followed a 1-2 fall in Nairobi where Enock Agwanda registered a consolation for hosts Gor Mahia after Riajala Raherindivo and Michael Fehanaiza had put the then visitors CNaps in the lead.