CAF Confederation Cup wrap, 14-16 December 2018

Johnny Rafelambolasoa of Elgeco Plus challenges Leonardo Castro of Kaizer Chiefs during the CAF Confederations Cup

Monday Dec 17, 2018. 10:15

The first round, first-leg matches in the 2018/19 CAF Confederation Cup wrapped up on Sunday evening with defending champions Raja Casablanca opening their campaign with an emphatic 5-0 home win over Gabon’s Cercle Mberi Sportif.

The result sees the Green Eagles, who scored all of their five goals in the second half, go a long way toward advancement ahead of the return game in Libreville next Saturday.

The round’s action got underway on Friday with Angola’s Petro de Luanda claiming a 1-0 away win at DR Congo’s AS Nyuki, while Moroccan club Hassania Agadir secured a 2-0 home triumph over Senegalese Generation Foot.

Saturday saw a busy schedule for the second-tier continental competition, with no less than 13 matches completed across the continent. The headline result came from Cairo, where Egyptian giants Zamalek racked up a 7-0 victory over AS Coton Tchad to all but secure a place in the playoff round.

Elsewhere, heavyweight West African sides Asante Kotoko (Ghana) and Enugu Rangers (Nigeria) secured creditable goalless away draws at Kenya’s Kariobangi Sharks and Algerian side USM Bel Abbes respectively, Burkina Faso’s Salitas picked up an impressive 2-0 win at Al Masry in Port Said, and South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs continued their mini revival under new manager Ernst Middendorp with a 3-0 home win over Elgeco Plus of Madagascar.

Tunisian sides CS Sfaxien and Etoile du Sahel made full use of home advantage with comfortable wins over Green Buffaloes (4-1) and Stade d’Abidjan (3-0) respectively, as did Uganda’s KCCA in defeating Tanzania’s Mtibwa Sugar 3-0 in an East African derby.

The second-leg matches are scheduled to be played next weekend, 21-23 December. The aggregate winners will advance into the playoff round in 2019.

CAF Confederation Cup results, 14-16 December 2018

Friday 14 December

AS Nyuki 0-1 Petro de Luanda
Hassania Agadir 2-0 Generation Foot

Saturday 15 December

Al Ahly Tripoli 1-1 New Star
Kariobangi Sharks 0-0 Asante Kotoko
Green Eagles 0-0 NA Hussein Dey
KCCA 3-0 Mtibwa Sugar
DC Motema Pembe 1-1 San Pedro
USM Bel Abbes 0-0 Enugu Rangers
Etoile du Sahel 3-0 Stade d’Abidjan
Al Masry 0-2 Salitas
RS Berkane 3-0 Al Ittihad
Al Hilal Al Ubayyid 0-0 Mukura Victory Sports
CS Sfaxien 4-1 Green Buffaloes
Zamalek 7-0 AS Coton Tchad
Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 ASSM Elgeco Plus

Sunday 16 December

Raja Casablanca 5-0 Cercle Mberi Sportif