Enyimba, Rangers, Esperance Maul Opponents
By Duro Ikhazuagbe in Enugu, Femi Atoyebi in Aba (with Agency Reports).
It was goals galore this weekend in the Champions League in various centres on the continent where matches were played with Enyimba of Nigeria getting the highest score line of 6-0 and Esperance of Tunisia following closely with 5-0 result.
Bullets of Malawi were the hapless victims of Enyimba while Senegal's Jeanne d'Arc was the club pounded in Tunis.
In Aba yesterday, the 'Peoples' Elephants' Ghanaian import, Joetex Frimpong returned to scoring ways when he slotted in the first goal in the 4th minute which mercurial Ndidi Anumunu increased to two in the 22nd minute.
Waking up from what is like a bad slumber, the Malawian Bakili Bullets scored a goal three minutes later but which was disallowed only for defender Muri Ogunbiyi to increase the tally to three in the 43rd minute, he came back to register his name again on the scorer's sheet in the added time, 91st minute, no wonder he was voted the Man of the Match, with Ozurumba Chibuzor scoring the fifth in the 46th.
Club Chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, speaking to THISDAYSports said, "this result has exposed us. We would not only become the team to watch out for and beat as the defending champions but because of the margin, another red hot signal is sent out."
Meanwhile, Tunisian champions Esperance thrashed Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal 5-0 to confirm their pole position in Group B of the Champions League.
Striker Ali Zitouni was a key figure for the Tunisian side, grabbing a brace for the second Champions League tie in succession.
Zitouni scored both Esperance's goals when the Tunisians beat South African side SuperSport United 2-1 in their opening Group B game.
The 23-year-old opened the scoring once again with a goal in the 29th minute. Two minutes later, the home side doubled its advantage as midfielder Skander Souayah found the back of the Senegalese net.
Just after the hour mark, Zitouni struck his second of the game to delight the 20,000 watching fans in Sfax as well as take his Champions League tally this season to five.
Esperance wrapped up the points and a crushing victory when Ben Abdellah scored a fourth in the 78th minute, before Tunisia midfielder Jawhar Mnari completed the scoring just four minutes from time.
The victory is Esperance's best of their Champions League campaign, eclipsing their 4-0 destruction of Sahel of Niger in the first round.
Esperance lead Group B on six points, three clear of both USMA of Algeria and Jeanne d'Arc while SuperSport are pointless at the bottom.
On Friday, USMA beat SuperSport 2-1 in Algiers in the other Group B fixture. In the next round of fixtures, SuperSport entertain Jeanne d'Arc in Pretoria on 7 August while USMA travel to Esperance for a North African derby the following day.
Meanwhile, in the Confederations Cup, while Enugu, Rangers of Enugu and Santos of South Africa have qualified for the lucrative League phase, while the final team in the group will come from the winner of Orlando Pirates of South Africa against Cameroon side Sable Batie.
Rangers beat APR of Rwanda by 3-0, to qualify on an aggregate of 3-1 into the new League phase styled after Europe's UEFA Cup, which will commence next month. Penultimate week, it would be recalled that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) signed an agreement with ISE, a sports firm, to make available $500,000 for the tourney.
Rangers' Oluwole Johnson opened the scoreline with a 2nd minute conversion of a lob from the left flank. No other goal came in the first half. As the second half resumed, the Rwandans resorted to delay tactics and a heavy defence orientation, which did not pay off.
Rangers second goal came from the penalty spot through a foul on defender Kieipo Malmerbibi. Taken by Okey Odita, the keeper parried it off, a follow-up from the taker got the goal in the 72nd minute.
The decider came into the net after coach Lawrence Akpokona brought in Emma Agbo for Junior Osagie, which paid off. The rampaging Agbo supplied the pass with which Ugo Okeke registered the third goal.
Santos made it through to the group stage of the Confederation Cup when the South African side beat Canon Yaounde of Cameroon 2-0 in Pretoria yesterday.
Following the 1-1 draw in Yaounde in the first leg, Santos go through 3-1 on aggregate. An early goal from Marawaan Bantam gave the South Africans the perfect start as he collected a flick-on from Jean-Marc Ithier and struck a sweetly-timed shot from just inside the box in the 23rd minute.
This gave the home side a 2-1 aggregate lead, and just seven minutes later Thembile Kanono put the result beyond doubt.
Following a long goal kick by Santos and another flick-on from Ithier, Canon failed to clear and Kanono snuck in between two defenders on the edge of the box to fire home with the outside of his right foot.
"We gave the ball away too often in the second half instead of playing it out of defence," said Santos coach Boebie Solomons in spite of the victory.
"The team were so determined to win they just wanted to keep it out of our penalty area."
Santos now go into Group B of the competition, where they join Cotonsport of Cameroon and Ghana's Hearts of Oak.
The final team in the group will come from the winner of Orlando Pirates of South Africa against Cameroon side Sable Batie. However, that game, which started in Douala yesterday, had to be postponed after 50 minutes due to bad weather.
The match was still goalless when rain started to fall in the 38th minute, and although the first half ended without problems a torrential downpour during the half-time break left the pitch unplayable.
Five minutes into the second half match commissioner Codjo Leopold of Gabon decided that the tie could not continue on a pitch containing plenty of surface water and so called the game off. A pitch inspection will now take place today to determine whether it will be possible to play the tie later in the day.
|
