Every team in Group C is still firmly in the hunt for qualification to the CAF Confederation Cup quarter-finals after Senegal’s Jaraaf defeated Salitas FC of Burkina Faso 2-0 on Saturday. The result moves Salitas bottom with three points while pulling Jaraaf up to four points, even with Étoile du Sahel who drew fellow Tunisian side CS Sfaxien 0-0 in the other game. Sfaxien remain at the top of the group with five points courtesy of the road point.
A focused gameplan and two well-taken goals led the way for Jaraaf to clinch their home win in Dakar. The opening goal in the 12th minute was an excellent piece of play, the left-back Babacar Seck getting forward to sublimely take down an aerial ball and cut back for Albert Diene. The forward took his time before finding a gap to slip his shot through and into the net.
Salitas lacked the defensive composure of their previous CAFCC games and went down two goals just before halftime to seal their fate. Salitas left-back Michel Aouba got nothing but air on a clearance attempt and Papa Paye took advantage to lash a strike home in the 44th minute. The visitors lacked the attacking quality to get themselves back into the match and Jaraaf secured a win to earn their way back into contention.
In an anticipated matchup Tunisian clubs Étoile du Sahel and CS Sfaxien played an intense and hard-fought match before settling for the scoreless draw. Sfaxien looked more capable of scoring in the first-half but the opening period was mostly devoid of chances. The match heated up after the break when Étoile left-back Mortadha Ben Ouanes’ shot was cleared off the line with multiple Sfaxien defenders guarding the goal. Sfaxien’s left-back Azmi Ghouma came the closest for the visitors late on but his brilliant technical blast from far out clipped the post on its way out of play.
Highlights are below from both games.
ASC Jaraaf 2-0 Salitas
Étoile du Sahel 0-0 CS Sfaxien