Mazembe defend heroically to retain cup
TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo defended superbly to force a 0-0 draw at SuperSport United on Saturday and retain the Caf Confederation Cup.
The Congolese club restricted the home team to just one shot on target in the second leg of the final in Pretoria, which saw each team have a player sent off late on, and won the secondary African club competition 2-1 on aggregate.
“We squandered a couple of early chances, then spent a lot of time defending our one-goal lead from the first leg,” Mazembe coach Pamphile Mihayo said.
“Our defending was excellent and everyone played a part in keeping SuperSport at bay.”
SuperSport coach Eric Tinkler said; “We recovered well from a sluggish start, but could not find a way through a good Mazembe defence.”
Mazembe became only the second club after 2006 Confederation Cup winners Etoile Sahel, of Tunisia, to lift the trophy without losing a match.
The Ravens won eight games and drew six after entering the competition at the playoff stage, having being demoted from the Caf Champions League.
Apart from two Confederation Cup titles, Mazembe have won the Champions League five times, the Super Cup three times and the now defunct African Cup Winners Cup once.
Those 11 trophies make them the second most successful club in Caf competitions after Al Ahly of Egypt, who have won 19 titles.
Mazembe wasted two early chances to take the lead, with captain Rainford Kalaba and Daniel Nii Adjei the culprits.
SuperSport needed 73 minutes to get a shot on target with Ivorian goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo saving a low effort from Togolese substitute Dove Wome.
A second leg that never reached great heights threatened to boil over in the closing stages with the Senegalese referee showing two red and five yellow cards.
Mazembe will meet Champions League title-holders Wydad Casablanca, of Morocco, in a one-off Super Cup match in February. – AFP