Enyimba lose to dash hopes of CAF Champions League glory for Nigeria

JOHANNESBURG: Enyimba were eliminated from the CAF Champions League Sunday, leaving Nigeria without a club in the upcoming group phase of the elite African club competition. A goal just after half-time from Mohamed Musa gave Al Hilal of Sudan a 1-0 victory over Enyimba in Omdurman and the east Africans won by the same score overall after a goalless first leg.

It was a shock outcome to the last-32 tie as five-goal Enyimba had impressive in the preliminary round while Hilal needed the away goal rule to scrape past modest opponents. Kano Pillars, the other Nigerian contenders for the Champions League this season, were defeated by Asante Kotoko of Ghana in the previous round.

The only consolation for two-time African champions Enyimba is that they will get another shot at winning a CAF competition this season by competing in the second-tier Confederation Cup. All 16 first round losers drop to the Confederation Cup and will play last-32 winners in that competition in two-leg play-offs during October with group places at stake.

However, the CAF Champions League is a far more lucrative and prestigious competition and Nigerian football supporters will be bitterly disappointed by the failure of Enyimba. Kotoko will also be competing in the Confederation Cup after they crashed 3-0 away to Etoile Sahel of Tunisia in Monastir after building a two-goal first leg advantage.

Algerian Karim Aribi took his goal tally to a charttopping seven in the Champions League this season by scoring twice in the second half after Mortadha Ben Ouanes put the Tunisians ahead.

Etoile had Saddam Ben Aziza red-carded on 79 minutes with the tie deadlocked at 2-2 on aggregate and Aribi scored the crucial goal five minutes later. Tunisia will have two contenders in the group phase as trophyholders Esperance survived a scare Friday to defeat minnows Elect-Sport of Chad 2-1 near Tunis and qualify 3-2 overall.—AFP