CAF Champions League: Young Africans defeat Al Merriekh in Kigali

Tanzania Premier League reigning champions Young Africans SC have registered a 2-0 win against hosts Al Merriekh in the first leg second preliminary round of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

The Sudan side hosting their matches at the Kigali Pele Stadium because of the insecurity back home started on a high, but the Young Africans managed to cool off the pressure.

Early in the match Al Merriekh’s Salaheldin Kago Mahmoud Nemer was booked for a bad challenge.

Young Africans continued to dominate play, but missed scoring opportunities through Maxi Mpia Nzengeli and Stephane Aziz Ki as the match ended goalless after 45 minutes.

After the interval Al Merriekh’s star player Brayan Edinso Angulo came all out showing some good dribbling skills, but failed to occasionally shoot at goal. Substitute Kennedy Musonda who had replaced Mudathiri Abbas Yahya Abasi gave Young Africans Sc the lead after 60 minutes.

The Tanzanian team continued to dominate play before they netted the second after 82 minutes. A clever pass by Khalid Aucho was tapped through by Aziz Ki for Clement Franses Mzize to finish.

With a two mintes left substitute Musa Hussein Musa Ali had the chance to pull back one goal for Al Merriekh, but he fumbled with the ball when he had only goalkeeper Djigui Diarra to beat.

In the other match played in Zambia another Tanzanian side Simba SC battled back to pick a 2-2 draw against Power Dynamos FC at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.

Joshua Mutale gave the home side the lead after 29 minutes, but Clatous Chama leveled matters after 59 minutes. But the Power Dyanamos side kept pushing forward to make it 2-1 after 75 minutes through Cephas Mulomba. It was Chama who made sure Simba SC picked a vital draw with an equaliser three minutes into added time.

On Sunday Rwanda’s APR FC will face Egyptian side Pyramids FC in Kigali, Al Hilal (Sudan) take on Primero de Agosto away in Angola.