Rangers Crash in Sudan
Al Hilal 2-1 Enugu Rangers
Al Hilal of Sudan secured an important 2-1 win over Enugu Rangers on Saturday to stay in contention in Group A of the Confederation Cup. Al Hilal opened the scoring against their visitors with a goal from Ala al-Din in the 58th minute.
Enugu Rangers equalised in the 77th minute thanks to Ugochukwu Okeke but just five minutes later Haithum Mustafa secured all three points for Al Hilal from the penalty spot.
The win for the Sudanese points mean that they are now level with Enugu on six points from four matches.
Ghana's Asante Kotoko, who also have six points, play Angola's Petro Atletico in Luanda on Sunday.
Petro have three points so far from their three matches.
Only the group winners advance to the two-leg final.
MTN/CAF League: Jeanne d'Arc Hit Semis
Senegal's Jeanne d'Arc have beaten Esperance of Tunisia 2-1 to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time.
Two goals in a minute, from Raymond Mendy and Lamine Diarra, secured the victory for Senegal's oldest club yesterday.
Jeanne d'Arc's decisive double came with just ten minutes to go, after the Senegalese had fallen behind, and wasted a host of chances.
Esperance had taken the lead just before half time thanks to a Zied Triki penalty.
The Senegalese, in front of a bigger than usual crowd at the Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium, then peppered the Esperance goal as they looked for an equaliser.
Strikers Lamine Diarra and Dame Ndoye in particular spurned chance after chance, and it began to look as if it wasn't Jeanne d'Arc's day.
Then as time ran out the Senegalese struck twice in quick succession.
First substitute Raymond Mendy took advantage of some penalty box confusion to prod home.
Then Diarra scored a splendid goal.
The build-up may have been messy, with the ball rebounding off two Esperance defenders, but Diarra's spin and first time volley produced a goal fit to win any game.
The result in Dakar means that Jeanne d'Arc finish second in Group B and now face Group A winners Etoile Sahel of Tunisia in the last four.
Despite the loss Esperance win the group and in the semi-finals will play reigning champions Enyimba of Nigeria, who finished second in Group A.
USMA of Algeria saw any chance of qualifying for the final four disappear when they lost 2-0 to SuperSport United in South Africa.
Eriksson May Axe Beckham
Sven-Goran Eriksson said he would look at David Beckham's future as England captain if the Real Madrid star "lost all the confidence of the players".But the England coach said Beckham's 'deliberate' booking against Wales would not have a long-term effect on his standing in the game.
"The reputation of Beckham is that he is not a rough, unfair player," he told the News of the World newspaper.
"I would say he has always had a good relationship with referees."
Eriksson also singled out Rio Ferdinand for praise, saying the Manchester United defender had been brilliant since returning from his eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.
"Rio is a modern central defender, strong, tall and a good header of the ball," he said.
"He can change the way England play because traditionally in English football the ball is given to the full-backs and the move starts from there.
"But Ferdinand can bring the ball from central positions as they do in Europe.
"He would be among the best football-playing defenders I have worked with."
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