JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —
Ghanaians Bernard Morrison and Richard Ofori could play pivotal roles when Simba of Tanzania host
Orlando Pirates of South Africa on Sunday in a CAF Confederation Cup
quarter-final first leg.
اضافة اعلان
A former Pirate, speedy Morrison is the leading Simba scorer
this season in the African equivalent of the
UEFA Europa League with three
goals.
Pirates goalkeeper Ofori boasts three consecutive
Confederation Cup clean sheets after replacing off-form Siyabonga Mpontshane
and hopes to prevent his compatriot adding to his goal tally.
Here, AFP Sport highlights five things to know ahead of the
first legs on Sunday, with the return matches to be played seven days later.
Opposing Simba
A 60,000 crowd will fill the Benjamin Mkapa national stadium
in commercial capital Dar es Salaam to see Simba confront Pirates, but not all
the Tanzanians there will be backing the home team.
Supporters of arch domestic rivals
Young Africans plan to
continue a tradition of cheering for the visiting club because they do not want
Simba to succeed.
This strange practice is not confined to Tanzania — when V
Club play at home in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, fans of fierce Kinshasa
rivals Daring Club Motema Pembe always back the visiting side.
Home perils
Losing a first leg at home potentially spells elimination in
the last-eight phase of Confederation Cup with none of the six sides who have
done so escaping overall defeat.
Only Zanaco of
Zambia among the sextet won the return match,
but the 1–0 victory over Pyramids in Egypt in 2020 was hollow following a 3–0
drubbing in Lusaka.
Al Nasr of Libya suffered the most humiliating home loss —
5-0 to Hassania Agadir of Morocco two seasons ago — in a match staged in Egypt
because of violence in the oil-rich north
African nation.
Wary Pirates
Pirates hope a second successive appearance in the
Confederation Cup quarter finals will turn out much better than the first last
season.
After taking the lead through Vincent Pule at home to
eventual title winners Raja Casablanca of
Morocco, they were held 1–1 in
Soweto.
If the first-leg outcome was disappointing, the return match
proved disastrous for the Buccaneers, who crumbled 4–0 with all the goals
coming within 36 minutes of the kick-off.
Libyan showdown
Two Libyan clubs have reached the Confederation Cup quarter finals
for the first time and the luck of the draw saw Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahly Tripoli
paired, sparing both potentially long, costly flights.
Although both teams are based in the capital, Tripoli, no
stadium there meets international standards so the matches will be played in
the second largest city, Benghazi, 650km to the east.
Libya is the only north African country not to have won a
CAF club competition. Ahly reached the 1984 Cup Winners Cup final against their
Egyptian namesakes, but strained political relations between the nations forced
the Tripoli outfit to withdraw.
Resurgent Mazembe
TP Mazembe of DR Congo, who face Pyramids with the first leg
in
Cairo, are chasing trophies again after several barren seasons as some stars
grew old while others moved abroad to bolster monthly salaries.
The Ravens from southern mining city Lubumbashi, who won
eight CAF titles between 2009 and 2017, are guided by French coach Franck Dumas
and topped Group C after a 2–0 win over Egyptian visitors Al-Masry.
If Dumas has a major concern it is the lack of a consistent
scorer — Adam Nazli scored both goals against Masry and is the only squad
member to net more than once in the eight matches of this campaign.
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