CAF Champions League: Wydad out, Sundowns and Al Ahly moving forward
The competition’s defending champions, Al Ahly of Egypt, won 1-0 against Young Africans of Tanzania on Friday in Egypt to take the lead in Group D. Hussein El-Shahat scored the only goal of the game for the Red Devils in the 46th minute, giving the Egyptians all three of the points that were at stake.
At the Olympic Stadium in Algiers, the Algerian team Belouizdad defeated the Ghanaian team Medeama 3-0 in the other group match. The journeys of the Ghanaians and Belouizdad came to an end despite the decisive triumph. Belouizdad’s first goals came from Abdelraouf Benguit in the 27th minute and Lionel Nampé in the 42nd. Lamine Jalou scored the third goal in the second half in the 84th minute.
In the meantime, the AFL champions Sundowns defeated TP Mazembe 1-0 in Pretoria to overtake the Congolese team and take first place in group A. Peter Shalulile, a striker from Namibia, scored a penalty in the first half to give Sundowns the three points and exact revenge for their earlier season loss to the visitors.
ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire won Group B, surpassing Wydad Casablanca, the 2022 CAF Champions League winners, and Simba of Tanzania. Wydad beat ASEC 1-0 in the last group match in Casablanca, but Simba advanced due to their 6-0 thumping of Jwaneng Galaxy and their superior head-to-head record against the Moroccan team.
Group C was quite simple, with Petro Atletico (Angola) and Esperance (Tunisia) taking first and second place, respectively. The four group winners will receive seeds in the quarterfinal draw, while the four group runners-up will receive no seeds. The teams who are ranked will face the teams that are not ranked, with the ranked teams hosting the second leg of the match.
While teams from the same association could be drawn against one another, teams from the same group could not be drawn against one another.