East African sides’ Confederation Cup journeys end

• All East African sides lost their second round matches
• Only Yanga will be the CECAFA region rep after they dropped off the Champions League
• The draw for the play-off round will be held Tuesday

CECAFA Region teams found the going tough as they exited the CAF Confederation Cup. Following the conclusion of the second preliminary round this weekend.

Tanzania’s Azam, Zanzibar’s Kipanga, Rwanda’s AS Kigali and Sudan’s Hila Alsahil all exited the tournament. Only Tanzania’s Yanga will be drawn in the additional second round whose winners qualify for the group stages. Wanajangwani dropped to the Confederation Cup after losing out to Sudan’s Al Hilal in the Champions League.

In Dar es Salaam, Azam FC faced Libya’s Al Akhdar, carrying with them a 3-0 defficit from the first leg. They either needed a similar result at home to force penalties or a win of more than four goals to outrightly qualify.

They however couldn’t attain their target. They won 2-0, courtesy of an Idris Mbombo double, and saw their journey come to an end. The forward scored in the 28^th and 58^th minutes, but Azam didn’t have enough in the tank to battle for a winner in the final half hour of the game.

Kipanga handed seven star beating

Meanwhile, cross-town neighbors Kipanga of Zanzibar were handed a rough beating, going down 7-0 away to Tunisia’s Club Africain in the return tie up North. The two sides has played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg at the Amman Stadium.

Kipanga had hoped to pull a shock of sorts, but they found themselves at the end of a seven-star beating. Ahmed Halil scored a brace with a goal each from Zouhaier Dhaouadi, Mohamed Ali Amri, Hamdi Labidi, Chiheb Labidi and Nader Ghandri’s late penalty.

Al Hilal Alsahil of Sudan was also on the receiving end of a seven-star beating as they lost by the same margin to Egyptian giants Pyramids in Cairo. They bowed out with an aggregate 9-0 defeat, having lost 2-0 in the first leg last weekend.

Fakhreddine Ben Youssef scored a hattrick for the Egyptian moneybags with Ahmed Sami, Issa Islam, Ramadhan Sobhi and Mohamed Chibi scoring once each. Pyramids had to play almost an hour of the match with 10 men after Islam was sent off in the 36^th minute of the game.

AS Kigali lose in Libya

Action between AS Kigali and AL Nasr in the CAF Confederation Cup. PHOTO/AS Kigali

In Libya, Rwanda’s AS Kigali lost by a slim 1-0 margin, having played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Huye. They will blame themselves for not taking their chances at home and they were punished, with Abdelsalam Alaqoub scoring in the 70^th minute.

Ethiopia’s Fasil Kenema meanwhile also bowed out after losing by a solitary goal to Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien. They had played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg last weekend, but the Ethiopians could not complete the job away from home.

Mauritanian forward Ismail Diakite scored the winner in the 70^th minute for Sfaxien, who now seek back to back places in the group stages of the competition.

Meanwhile, defending champions RS Berkane also progressed after overturning a 3-1 deficit from the first leg against Nigeria’s Kwara United. They won 2-0 at home for a 3-3 aggregate score, to progress on the away goal rule.