Click here to read our recap from Saturday.
The top clubs in African football took center stage at the 2022-23 CAF Champions League on Sunday with Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns, TP Mazembe, Espérance ST and defending African champions Wydad AC all in action for the first leg of their Second Round matchups. Wydad and Espérance have work to do at home in second leg after the top teams in Moroccan and Tunisian football were both handed first leg defeats in Nigeria. The remainder of Africa’s top sides experienced varying fates but are in good shape for the return legs at home with important group stage spots awaiting the winners from the final preliminary round.
Egyptian clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek both won 1-0 in each of their first competitive matchups of the season. Ahly neutralized Tunisian hosts US Monastir before finding a winner in the final seconds off the head of center back Mohamed Abdelmonem. Zamalek are playing both legs of their matchup against Burundian club Flambeau du Centre in Cairo and took the first match with a headed goal from Hossam Abdelmeged.
Mamelodi Sundowns showed no mercy in a 7-0 destruction of Seychellois team La Passe that highlighted the massive gulf between an amateur side and one of Africa’s top clubs. Tanzanian giants Simba SC did excellently in Angola to take an early lead and win 3-1 against Primeiro de Agosto with Zambian attackers Moses Phiri and Clatous Chama scoring. Top Congolese club Mazembe drew Ugandan champions Vipers SC 0-0 and will have the opportunity to secure advancement back home in Lubumbashi where their record is historically one of Africa’s best.
2021-22 edition winners Wydad took the lead through Senegalese forward Bouly Sambou in Port Harcourt but reigning Nigeria Professional Football League champions Rivers United rallied through goals from Malachi Ohawuma and Paul Acquah to win 2-1. With $40,000 being offered to each Rivers United player by the club’s management for an aggregate victory the top Nigerian side will do all they can to hold on against all odds in Casablanca next week.
Espérance suffered defeat to NPFL runners-up Plateau United under similar circumstances, having taken the lead before the hosts surged back to win 2-1 in Abuja. Algerian champions CR Belouizdad completed a trio of 2-1 defeats for North African teams in West Africa with Malian club Djoliba AC taking the lead in Bamako. In an all-West Africa matchup Guinean titans Horoya AC secured an important 1-0 shutout of Ivory Coast’s ASEC Mimosas and Cameroonian double winners Coton Sport drew Royal Leopards in Eswatini.
All of the scores and highlights from Sunday’s action are below.
Scores
Vipers SC (Uganda) 0-0 TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
Royal Leopards (Eswatini) 1-1 Coton Sport (Cameroon)
La Passe (Seychelles) 0-7 Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
US Monastir (Tunisia) 0-1 Al Ahly SC (Egypt)
Plateau United (Nigeria) 2-1 Espérance ST (Tunisia)
Primeiro de Agosto (Angola) 1-3 Simba SC (Tanzania)
Rivers United (Nigeria) 2-1 Wydad AC (Morocco)
ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast) 0-1 Horoya AC (Guinea)
Djoliba AC (Mali) 2-1 CR Belouizdad (Algeria)
Flambeau du Centre (Burundi) 0-1 Zamalek SC (Egypt)
Highlights
Flambeau du Centre 0-1 Zamalek SC
US Monastir 0-1 Al Ahly SC
La Passe 0-7 Mamelodi Sundowns
Primeiro de Agosto 1-3 Simba SC
Djoliba AC 2-1 CR Belouizdad
Rivers United 2-1 Wydad AC
ASEC Mimosas 0-1 Horoya AC
