Senegalese clubs have made a notable impact in CAF club competitions this season and ASC Jaraaf completed a remarkable achievement by clinching qualification to the quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup on Wednesday with a 1-0 home victory over Étoile du Sahel. With Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien emerging victorious as well over Burkina Faso’s Salitas, CSS joins Jaraaf as the teams advancing out of Group C.
Étoile had the better of the early exchanges and had two excellent opportunities to find a goal within the first five minutes, but wasteful finishing kept the Senegalese side in contention. Jaraaf made Étoile pay in the 25th minute when a cross from left-back Babacar Seck found an attacker, whose header was saved by Étoile keeper Rami Gabsi. However, defender Ghofrane Naouali opted to shield the ball for Gabsi to pick it up instead of clearing it, allowing Jaraaf forward Papa Paye to crash in and put in the rebound as the Étoile defense miscommunicated. The strike was the 25-year-old’s third CAFCC goal in the group stage.
An ill-advised tackle from Étoile defender Mohamed Konate resulted in a second yellow card and did much to hamper the Tunisian side’s comeback efforts. Jaraaf held out and their debut in the CAFCC group stage now results in their first participation in the quarter-finals.
Sfaxien’s business-like performance was enough to secure a 2-0 victory in Benin against Salitas was enough to send one Tunisian side through to the quarter-finals. A reckless challenge in the Salitas penalty area led to a 7th minute penalty-kick for CSS, which was dispatched somewhat unconvincingly by striker Firas Chaouat for his fourth goal in the competition. The Burkinabé team’s attack, having only scored one goal throughout the whole group stage, struggled to generate much of a threat. Soon after halftime a thunderous long-range blast from Nigerian forward Kingsley Eduwo sealed the win for Sfaxien in the 51st minute.
Highlights from both games are below.
Jaraaf 1-0 Étoile du Sahel
Salitas 0-2 CS Sfaxien