The 'foreign legion' came to the rescue of Tanzanian club Simba in the Orange CAF Confederation Cup as they defeated Algerian visitors Entente Setif 2-0 Sunday.
Ugandan Emmanuel Okwi broke the deadlock 75 minutes into the first leg of a last-32 tie and Zambian Felix Sunzu raised his competition goal tally this season to three by adding a second soon after in Dar es Salaam.
Serbia-born Simba coach Milovan Cirkovic lavished praise on 2009 runners-up Setif before the game and the triumph is a major boost for Tanzanian football after the early exit of Young Africans from the CAF Champions League. A Sunzu brace enabled Simba to scrape past Kiyovu Sports of Rwanda in the preliminary round while 1988 African champions Setif were among 16 clubs to receive a bye.
African rookies Hwange of Zimbabwe came from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw at home to Al Amal from Sudan with Rodwell Chinyengetere levelling just before half-time after Mohd Adam gave the east Africans an early advantage. The match provided a reality check for the Zimbabwean club based at a colliery in the north west of the country after they fired seven goals past Zanzibar outfit Jamhuri to reach the second qualifying phase.
CS Sfaxien of Tunisia, the only club to lift the Confederation Cup twice since its 2004 inception in place of the African Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup competitions, look set to advance after winning in Congo Brazzaville.
The team from Mediterranean city Sfax triumphed 2-1 over AC Leopards in Dolisie with Maher Haddad and Guinean Naby Soumah scoring before Loseni Komara pulled one goal back from a penalty kick on the half-hour mark.
Tana Formation of Madagascar surprised 2011 semi-finalists InterClube of Angola 2-0 in Antananarivo via goals from Ferdinand Ramanamahefa and Tojo Claudel Fanomezana. Malagasy football is in a deep state of depression after a series of heavy losses at national team and club level and desperately needed the boost that debutants Tana delivered.
Both Malian sides lost away with Cercle Olympic Bamako conceding a goal in added time to fall 3-2 in Chad against Renaissance while Real Bamako were defeated 1-0 by Gamtel in Gambia.
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