NORTH AFRICAN TESTS FOR SA’S BEST
ORLANDO Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns will face familiar north African giants in their quest to conquer the continent again.
The first two South African clubs to reach the group stage of the CAF Champions League in the same year avoided each other in the draw that was held in Cairo yesterday.
The Brazilians will take on Wydad Casablanca for a third year in a row.
The Moroccan giants eliminated Sundowns in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last year and then went all the way to claim the continent’s premier club competition.
Sundowns were drawn with Wydad in the group stage of last season’s tournament. The Brazilians crashed out in the group stage, something they are looking to correct this season.
Lobi Stars of Nigeria and Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosas complete Group A, where Sundowns and Wydad are favourites to reach the knockout stage.
The Buccaneers were also drawn against a familiar foe in Esperance.
Pirates went past the Tunisian giants in the semi-finals of the 2013 Champions League. The Soweto giants are making a return to the competition after a five-year absence.
FC Platinum of Zimbabwe and Guinea’s Horoya complete Group B.
The Buccaneers will have a good reference point in terms of how to beat Horoya. The Guinean side have been in the country in the last two years. Last year they were in the same group as SuperSport United in the CAF Confederation Cup and this year they were grouped with Sundowns in the Champions League.
The north African giants will be Sundowns and Pirates’ toughest tests, but their fate in the group will be decided by how they perform against the banana peels in the form of the unfancied minnows.
The group stage will kick off on the weekend of January 11-13.
Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs were drawn against Zesco United in the Confederation Cup play-offs.
Amakhosi will travel to Zambia on the weekend of January 11-13 for the first leg before hosting the return leg a week later.
The Zambian side, knocked out of the Champions League, will offer Chiefs a stern test with a place in the group stage up for grabs.
What counts in Chiefs’ favour is that players are still trying to impress new coach Ernst Middendorp. The energy his appointment has brought to the team, with players fighting to impress, could push them to get past Zesco.
If that’s not enough, the fact that Pirates and Sundowns – their traditional rivals – are in the group stage of the Champions League will fuel Amakhosi to emulating them, albeit in the secondary competition.