Raja Casablanca and Constantine secure crucial wins in CAF Champions League Preliminaries
Raja Casablanca and CS Constantine claimed vital victories in the opening leg of the first preliminary round of the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup, setting themselves up well for the return fixtures.
Raja Casablanca earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Garde Nationale in Niger, with Saber Bougrine opening the scoring in the 20th minute and Marouane Zila adding a second in the 66th minute.
Although the Moroccans were briefly pegged back by a first-half equalizer, they managed to regain the lead and now return to Morocco with a crucial advantage.
Raja will be confident heading into the second leg at home, where they will aim to secure their place in the next round.
Elsewhere, Tanzania’s Young Africans delivered a dominant performance, thrashing Burundi’s FC Vitalo 4-0 to put one foot firmly in the next round.
This emphatic win leaves the Burundians with a mountain to climb in the return leg.
However, not all teams had such decisive outcomes. Several matches ended in draws, leaving everything to play for in the return legs.
Stade d’Abidjan of Ivory Coast and Senegal’s FC Teungueth played out a 1-1 draw, leaving the tie finely poised.
19 goals tonight! 🤯#TotalEnergiesCAFCC pic.twitter.com/AgspL1Sg7W
— TotalEnergiesCAFCL & TotalEnergiesCAFCC 🏆 (@CAFCLCC) August 17, 2024
Similarly, Red Star of the Central African Republic and Mali’s Djoliba could not be separated, with their match ending in a goalless stalemate in Cameroon.
The same result was recorded in the match between AS Douane of Burkina Faso and Benin’s Coton Sport, with both sides failing to find the net in their encounter in Mali.
In other matches, San Pedro of Ivory Coast managed a 1-1 draw away against Sierra Leone’s Bo Rangers, while AS Maniema from the Democratic Republic of Congo held Zimbabwe’s Ngazi Platinum to a 0-0 draw away from home.
These results leave all teams with work to do in the second legs if they are to advance to the next stage of the competition.
The CAF Confederation Cup also saw Algerian side CS Constantine secure a comfortable 2-0 victory over Rwanda’s Police FC.
Ibrahim Deeb broke the deadlock with a goal deep into first-half stoppage time, and Tosin doubled the lead in the 78th minute, giving Constantine a strong lead to take into the return leg.
Meanwhile, Racing Abidjan of Ivory Coast managed a respectable 0-0 draw away against Morocco’s Union Touarga.
Although they failed to score an away goal, the Ivorian side will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet and will look to capitalize on home advantage in the second leg.
As the preliminary round continues, attention now turns to Sunday’s fixtures, where teams like MC Alger and CR Bélouizdad of Algeria, AS FAR Rabat of Morocco, and Victoria United of Cameroon will make their entrances in this season’s CAF competitions.
These teams will be eager to secure strong results to set the tone for their campaigns.
Today’s results are in. 👇
How well did your team do?#TotalEnergiesCAFCL pic.twitter.com/mgS37JChl6
— TotalEnergiesCAFCL & TotalEnergiesCAFCC 🏆 (@CAFCLCC) August 17, 2024
