Knocked for a six
Ismaili cruised to the group phase of the Champions League. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab reports on the Egyptian club's walk in the park and other African encounters
Ismaili of Egypt romped through to the last eight of the African Champions League with a 6-0 win in their second leg match at the weekend. Ismaili beat AS Port Louis 2000 of Mauritius on Friday for a 7-0 aggregate triumph after beating them 1-0 in the first leg in Mauritius. Sayed Moawwad opened the scoring for Ismaili after 24 minutes and Mohamed Abu Greisha, Abdel- Rahman Traore, both scoring two goals each and Ahmed Fathi were the other marksmen.
Ismaili's Egyptian club mate Zamalek went down on penalties to Tanzania's Simba, preventing an all- Egyptian final in the tournament.
Esperance were 7-1 aggregate winners of Highlanders of Zimbabwe after their second-leg tie in Tunis on Sunday. Cameroon's Canon Yaounde came from a goal down to beat FC St Eloi Lupopo of the Democratic Republic of Congo 3-1 in Yaounde while a solitary goal from Adama Soro Saina was enough for ASEC Abidjan of the Ivory Coast to edge Moroccan champions Hassania Agadir 1-0 on aggregate.
Esperance of Tunisia and Cote d'Ivoire's Asec Abidjan are seeking a record-breaking fifth title since the new format began in 1997.
Angolan side AS Aviacao bundled Ghana's Accra Hearts of Oak out of the African Champions League despite losing 0-2 in the second leg of the second round match at Accra Sports Stadium. AS Aviacao, who won the first leg 3-0, went through on a 3-2 aggregate.
Hearts faced the humiliation of their third early exit in as many years after winning the trophy in 2000. They scored a goal in each half through Laryea Kingston (45th) and Edmond Copson (71st).
Enyimba held Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal to a 0-0 draw in Dakar, qualifying 4-0 on aggregate. Well positioned after holding Stade Malien to a 1-1 draw in Bamako, USMA won the second leg 2-0, thanks to goals from Issad Bourahli and Bilal Dziri.
In the African Cup Winner's Cup, holders Wydad Casablanca beat Al-Hilal of Libya 4-0 on Sunday, and 6-2 on aggregate, to advance to the last eight of the competition.
Baladia Al-Mehalla of Egypt and Nigeria's Julius Berger also made it to the last eight. Both teams qualified 4-2 on aggregate. Mehalla got a 0-0 away draw against Sudan's Al-Hilal while Berger got a 3-1 win over Mozambican visitors Costa do Sol.
APR FC, the army club from Rwanda, became the first club from their country to make the quarter-finals of a continental competition with a 5-1 aggregate win over Etoile du Congo. They followed up their 3-0 win in the first leg in Kigali with a 2-1 win in Brazzaville on Sunday.
Kumasi Asante Kotoko went through on a 5-4 aggregate after defeating Mount Cameron of Cameroun 3-2 in the Kumasi Sports Stadium. Both sides who drew 2-2 in the first match were again level 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes and the match travelled into extra time. Kotoko scored the winner through a penalty kick.
Africa Sports of Ivory Coast scraped through to the quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Hafia of Guinea in Conakry. The Ivorians lost their home leg 2-1 but goals from Ble and Kouadio kept them in the competition. Etoile Sahel and Power Dynamos joined the quarter-finals as well.
Leading North African clubs Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Club Africain of Tunisia struck six goals each as they stormed into the CAF Cup quarter- finals this weekend. Raja outplayed FC 105 of Gabon 6-1 in Casablanca to advance 7-3 on aggregate and Club Africain trounced Jeunesse Club Abidjan of Ivory Coast 6-0 in Tunis for a 6-2 overall second round triumph.
The Moroccan Green Devils were five goals ahead before Onanca Martial scored for the Libreville club in the 62nd minute and Ahmed Atlassi completed the rout with two minutes left.
Liberian Prince Daye led the Club Africain goal charge with two and Rehouma Mouelhi, Ettayeb Ben Salem, Radhouene Bouzaiene and Eamzi Fathalli also scored in a merciless response to a shock first leg defeat by the African rookies.
An early goal from Mohamed Fadl and another midway through the second half by Adel Moustafa gave Ahli a 2-0 victory over Al-Nasr of Libya in Cairo. The Egyptian Red Devils led 2-1 from the first encounter, booking a place in the CAF Cup quarter-finals.
Al-Nasr had to play with 10 players after a red card was shown to the sweeper who handled a ball headed for the goal.
Kabylie of Algeria were surprisingly held 0-0 by Senegalese visitors Sonacos in Tizi-Ouzou but squeezed through on the away-goal rule, having drawn 1-1 in Dakar two weeks earlier.
Enugu had to survive a late onslaught from Daring Club Motema Pembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa with the West Africans losing the match 1-0, but winning the tie thanks to a 2-0 victory at home.
The drawing of lots for the three CAF club competitions will be held in Cairo on 10 July.
In the Champions League, the eight qualifiers will be divided into two groups to play in a round robin system. The top two clubs in each group qualify to the semi-finals before the final.
For both the Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup, the eight qualifiers from the round of 16 will be drawn to meet in the quarter-finals on a knockout basis leading to the final.
These are final editions of the Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup, which will be amalgamated into a new competition next year, the Confederation Cup.
Last weekend's second round, second leg matches were the most important on the Champions League calendar. Winners of the eight ties qualified for the lucrative league (group) phase of the competition and a share of $3.5 million in marketing and television revenue. The financial incentives, rare in African football, made qualification for the last eight a huge incentive and added a dollop of spice to last weekend's matches.
