Tembo’s SuperSport in narrow loss
LUBUMBASHI. — TP Mazembe claimed a 2-1 win over Kaitano Tembo’s SuperSport United in a 2017 Caf Confederations Cup final first-leg clash, at the Stade TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi yesterday.
Sipho Mbule scored the crucial away goal for the visitors, where Tembo — the former Zimbabwe international is the assistant coach — following Adama Traore’s opener.
Daniel Nii Adjei secured victory for the defending champions, who then failed to add to their scoreline despite a late onslaught.
In search of that vital away goal, Eric Tinkler named an offensive line up and what followed was a frantic opening half hour, with the two teams going toe-to-toe in an attacking battle.
Matsatsantsa should’ve hit the front THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe have said they are looking forward to a busy schedule in 2018 with several competitions aimed at preparing athletes on the continent for major international events lined up.
The national association met over the weekend at their head office in Gweru for their general meeting where several issues were discussed, including next year’s competitions, the strategic plan and the budget.
Tagara yesterday said that they got a directive from the Confederation of African Athletics to host an international meet yesterday alongside Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Mauritius and they are likely to take part in more events next year.
“We are to host an international meet next year. It’s a directive from the Confederation of African Athlet- on 12 minutes, but Bradley Grobler failed to hit the target from close range. Thuso Phala was the creator-in- chief down the right f lank to set up the SuperSport forward, who could only proceed to guide his shot over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy.
SuperSport bossed the ensuing minutes with Ley Matampi — favoured in goal to Sylvain Gbohouo — called into action to deny Phala, Dove Wome and Siyabonga Nhlapo in quick succession.
The Ravens, though, flexed their muscles soon after with Ushindi Kubanza unlucky to see his rasping effort — from an acute angle — canon off the woodwork. Mazembe duly opened the scoring on 18 minutes with Adama Traore providing the sucker punch to send the home fans into delirium.
His left- footed shot from range caught Ronwen Williams off guard as the ball whistled over his head. The goalkeeper quickly proclaimed that he failed to pick up the flight of the ball.
Following what was a frantic start to the clash, the tempo cooled down before picking up once more moments before the interval.
SuperSport launched a late siege on the Ravens goal, but the Democratic Republic of Congo giants survived as Grobler failed to convert. Mazembe held a slender lead as the teams headed for the tunnel at the end of the first stanza. Matsatsantsa pulled level two minutes after the break through Mbule, whose stunning long-range effort flew past Matampi.
The SuperSport teenager, called into the starting line-up in place of the suspended Reneilwe Letsholonyane, silenced the home crowd with a memorable strike. The hosts regained the lead in the 67th minute as Adjei hammered home from the edge of the area following a well-worked corner-kick routine. Williams was found wanting once more, with the unusual bounce off the artificial turf catching him off guard. Mazembe were all over SuperSport in the final 10 minutes and were particularly unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after Dean Furman hacked down Solomon Asante inside the area.
Tinkler’s troops, though, held firm as they now turn their attention to the second leg in South Africa.
The reverse fixture will take place at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville next Saturday, 25 November — SuperSport
should start as early as yesterday,” Tagara said. The national association were also restructuring their committees — the finance committee, high performance committee and the marketing and fund- raising committee.
“We re-looked at the strategic plan, what we have achieved. And one of the successes is we said we need medalists at the African Juniors as an indication for 2020 and we got medals.
“We also looked at re- engineering each committee. Each committee is supposed to come up with their operational plan for 2018 to 2019. And they will present their reports on December 16. The financial statements were done and adopted,” Tagara said.
Tagara said although there were some successes this year they also faced challenges along the way such as funding with most of their committees operating below 70 percent.