South African club Orlando Pirates suffered a shock loss while north African outfits flexed their muscles on Sunday in CAF Champions League last-32 first-leg qualifiers.
Former title-holders Pirates fell 1-0 to Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana in Gaborone, where Zimbabwean Daniel Msendami scored on 21 minutes.
Galaxy had the ball in the net again soon after half-time, but Benson Mangolo was controversially ruled offside before a capacity 25,000 crowd.
Pirates lacked unavailable star forward Zakhele Lepasa and his replacement, Cameroonian Souaibou Marou, failed to make an impact before being substituted.
The South Africans host the return match — with a group place on the line — in Soweto on September 29 and must hope history does not repeat itself.
In the 2010 Champions League, unfancied Gaborone United stunned Pirates in a qualifier, winning on away goals after a 2-2 draw in South Africa.
North African powerhouses Esperance of Tunisia and Chabab Belouizdad of Algeria won and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco drew in west Africa.
Algerian Mohamed Tougai converted a first-half penalty to give four-time champions Esperance a 1-0 victory over hosts AS Douanes of Burkina Faso in Yamoussoukro.
The match was moved to the Ivory Coast because there is no international-standard stadium in Burkina Faso, forcing clubs and the national team to play home matches at neutral venues.
Belouizdad, eyeing a fourth straight quarter-finals appearance, came from behind in Sierra Leone to beat Bo Rangers 3-1 with Oussama Darfalou the star performer.
After Abu Komeh gave Rangers an early lead, Darfalou set up Abderrahmane Meziane to equalise before half-time, then scored twice in the second half.
Wydad, runners-up to Al Ahly of Egypt in the 2023 Champions League final after winning the previous edition, held Hafia of Guinea to a 1-1 draw in Conakry.
Senegalese Bouly Sambou, join leading scorer in the competition last season with seven goals, put the Casablanca club ahead on 11 minutes.
Hafia, who won the predecessor of the Champions League three times in five final appearances during the 1970s, equalised in first half added-time through Mohamed Damoro.
The other Guinean challengers, Horoya, had Ibrahima Conde sent off in a 3-1 away defeat by Medeama of Ghana in Cape Coast.
Five-time African champions TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo triumphed 1-0 away to Nyasa Big Bullets of Malawi in Lilongwe through a goal from Malian teenager Cheikh Fofana.
Leave a Reply