African Roundup

SC Villa keep up form in Champions League

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- East and Central African Club Champions SC Villa made an emphatic start to their African Champions League campaign at the weekend with a 4-1 win over Muzinga of Burundi.

The Ugandan team were the biggest winners in the early stages of the Champions League on a weekend when two of this year's three annual African club competitions got underway.

Villa came back after conceding a second-minute goal to beat Muzinga in Kampala on Saturday in their Champions League preliminary round, first leg tie and set themselves up for a comfortable passage into the first round.

Michel Toto put the visitors ahead but Villa were level just before the break through former Ugandan international Edgar Watson on his return from a long standing injury.

Villa now look likely to meet the Angolan champions AS Aviacao in the next round.

The team they beat in the East and Central African Club Championship final last Tuesday, Simba SC of Tanzania, could only manage a 1-0 home win over Botswana Defence Force XI in Dar-es-Salaam on Sunday.

A goal on the half-hour mark from Athumani Machapa proved decisive but the army team have a good chance of an upset in next month's return match in Gaborone.

Kenya's Nzoia Sugar suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat away at Red Sea of Eritrea.

There was also a shock 3-1 loss for Ethiopia's St George at home to Rayon Sports from Rwanda in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

Idriss Yacouba of AS Niamey had the distinction of scoring the first Champions League goal of the year, but the team from Niger still lost 2-1 away to FC Nouadhibou of Mauritania in Nouakchott on Friday.

In the African Cup Winners' Cup, Olympique Moka of Mauritius were 3-1 winners at home over AS Fortior of Madagascar in an Indian Ocean island derby on Sunday.

South Africa's Jomo Cosmos, who had to go through the ignominy of a preliminary round tie because they entered the competition late, drew 2-2 away at Lesotho Defence Force in Maseru on Sunday.

The return legs will be played on the weekend of March 1-2. The winners progress to the first round in April, when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup also gets underway.

Kenya soccer chiefs deny fielding overage players

NAIROBI (Reuters) -- Kenya soccer chiefs denied on Monday that overage players had been fielded in their under-17 side and reiterated a threat to quit if Sports Minister Najib Balala did not reverse a decision to disband the national teams.

Balala disbanded the senior national team and the under-17s on Friday, saying he was acting to forestall sanctions by world governing body FIFA against Kenya for fielding overage players in African Youth championship qualifying matches.

But at a news conference on Monday, Kenya Football Federation (KFF) Chairman Maina Kariuki and Secretary General Hussein Swaleh said the minister was wrong.

They said they would seek guidance from the African Football Confederation (CAF).

"We have proof that the two players said to be overage by the minister are actually within the eligible age bracket," Kariuki told reporters.

"Because the minister unilaterally disbanded the team and the commissioner for sports sent us a letter ordering us to ask CAF to withdraw all our teams from all continental tournaments, we need further guidance from CAF.

"We can't do that [withdraw the teams] because there is no justification. If the minister insists and Kenyan national and club teams are withdrawn from the continental tournaments, we shall quit because there will be no need of being in office."

Kenya's under-17 side are due to play Ethiopia in the return leg of their African Youth championship qualifier in Nairobi this weekend.

The senior team, known as the Harambee Stars and also disbanded until the KFF issue is resolved, are scheduled to play Mauritania in an African Nations Cup qualifier in Nairobi next month.

The two players alleged to be over age are goalkeeper Francis Ochieng and Aggrey Ogoli.

KFF bosses produced birth certificates showing Ogoli was born on May 30, 1986 and Ochieng on May 16, 1986. Balala said on Friday that Ogoli's identity cards showed he was born in 1981 and Ochieng had confessed to him he was born in 1982.

Morocco

Champions Hassania Agadir took a huge step towards retaining their title by beating Wydad Casablanca 1-0 away on Sunday and opening up a seven point gap at the top of the table.

Wydad showed signs of a hangover after their defeat in the African Super Cup in Cairo last weekend and had three players sent off.

Noureddine Boubou scored the winner after 71 minutes and Hassania's celebrations were extended when second placed COD Meknes were held to a 2-2 draw at Royal Armed Forces in Rabat.

A hat trick from Rahal Kaddouri secured a 3-1 win for Olympique Khouribga over Jeunness Massira to move them into a tie for third place with Wydad, 10 points behind the leaders.

Raja Casablanca won a second successive game under new coach Henri Michel with Mohamed Biboudane's penalty securing a 1-0 win at Kawkab Marrakesh.

Raja, Morocco's biggest club and runners-up in last year's Africa Champions League, are now in sixth place

Cameroon

Champions Canon Yaounde tumbled to a third successive defeat at the start of the new season and are firmly at the bottom of the standings after their latest reversal on Sunday.

Canon lost 1-0 at home to Fovu de Baham with Bertin Sadeu scoring on the half-hour mark to ensure a full haul of points for the visitors.

PWD Bamenda and Mount Cameroon FC are the only sides with a 100 percent record, marking the first time clubs from the Anglophone part of the country have led the championship.

Bamenda won a third match in a row by beating Stade Bandjoun 2-1 on Sunday, while Mount Cameroon were 1-0 home winners over Racing Bafoussam in Buea.

Cotonsport scored the biggest win of the weekend's fixtures, hammering Victoria United 4-1 in Garoua and are now third.

Tunisia

Esperance won 2-1 at AS Marsa to stretch their lead in the championship to 23 points, while the next three sides in the table all lost.

It was a 12th win out of 14 games this season for the Tunis club, one of the most successful in continental club competition over the last decade.

Riadh Jelasssi and the Brazilian-born Tunisian international Clayton scored the goals, one on either side of halftime.

Etoile Sahel remain second but were beaten 1-0 by relegation-threatened CS Hammam-Lif in Tunis on Saturday with Anis Ben Chouikha scoring an eighth minute penalty to settle the result.

Etoile Sahel have 24 points, one more than Stade Tunisien, who also lost 1-0 on Sunday to US Monastir.

Fourth place CS Sfaxien were beaten 2-1 by Club Africain in Tunis on Saturday, with Adel Sellimi marking his return after several seasons in Germany with the 80th minute winner.

Sellimi, who captained Tunisia at last year's World Cup finals in Japan, was recently released by SC Freiburg.

South Africa

The premier league's top marksman Lesley Manyathela returned to his goalscoring ways as his club Orlando Pirates found their form again to go back to the top of the table on Sunday.

Manyathela scored the only goal of Sunday's match at Manning Rangers in Durban to give Pirates a three-point lead.

It was the 13th goal of the league season for the 21-year-old striker and Pirates' first win in their last four league games.

Dynamos, who were involved in a three-way tie for the leadership before the weekend's round of matches, lost ground after being beaten 2-1 at Wits University on Friday night.

Moroka Swallows did not play at the weekend and drop down to second with a game in hand.

The race for the championship remains wide open with five points separating the top six clubs.

SuperSport United ended a run of six league matches without a win by beating second-from-bottom Black Leopards 1-0 away in Thohoyandou and are now fifth, while Wits have moved up to sixth.

Wits could jump to second place if they win at struggling champions Santos in the only fixture scheduled for Wednesday.

Egypt

Al Ahli continued to set the pace at the head of the premier league with a 3-0 away win over Al Ittihad in Alexandria on Sunday.

The Cairo club remain 11 points clear of their arch-rivals Zamalek, who were 1-0 winners over Tersana on Sunday. Al Ahli have won 15 of their 16 games this season, the only blemish being a 2-2 draw with Zamalek last month.

Zamalek, who have played two games less than their rivals, have 35 points to Al Ahli's 46.

Mohamed Gouda scored twice from the penalty spot in Al Ahli's win on a rain-soaked pitch while the hosts had two players sent off.

Zamalek, who won the African Super Cup on February 7, needed a 80th minute penalty from Tarek Said for their victory.

Angola

Champions AS Aviacao and their expected challengers were all winners on the opening weekend of matches in the Girabola.

On Sunday, ASA won 1-0 at Desportivo Sonangol in the southern town of Namibie, while last season's runners-up Primeiro Agosto were 2-0 winners in Lubango against Desportivo Huila.

Petro Atletico opened their campaign with a thrilling 4-3 win over Petro Huambo in Luanda on Saturday but the win came at a heavy price.

Angola international Flavio, the league's leading goal scorer last year and also voted the best player of the 2001 African Champions League, broke his leg 20 minutes from the end of the match.

Manuel scored the first goal of the season after just 50 seconds for Petro Atletico, but the side from Huamabo kept up the fight until late in the game.

 

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