CAF CL: Jwaneng Galaxy stun African giants Wydad as Al Ahly outwit Medeama
By Story Agencies, November 26, 2023Botswana’s Jwaneng Galaxy sent shockwaves across the continent after edging Moroccan giants, Wydad AC with a historic 1-0 away win in a CAF Champions League Group B encounter in Casablanca on Saturday, November 25, 2023.
Galaxy, who are only making their second appearance in the group stages of the biggest club competition on the continent not only go top of the group but, do it in historic fashion with the win being their first ever victory in the group stages of the Champions League.
A costly mistake in the 33rd minute saw Galaxy forward, Thabang Sesinyi punishing last season’s runners up with the only goal that silenced the crowd and subsequently recorded one of the biggest upsets of the competition in recent history.
The historic victory sees the Southern African side from Botswana move to the summit of the group, following the 1-1 stalemate by Simba AC and Asec Mimosas in the earlier kick off on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Cairo, reigning champions Al Ahly fired a strong title defence warning shot with an emphatic 3-0 win over Ghana’s Medeama in a simultaneous fixture north of the continent.
The reigning champions had to work hard for the victory, as Medeama kept them at bay throughout the opening half.
With a few tactical changes after the recess, a 66th minute opener by Kahraba was followed by Hussein El Shatat’s strike in the 75th minute, before Salah Mohsen sealed the emphatic victory in the 88th minute to give Ahly the victory that sees them joint Group C leaders with Algeria’s CR Belouizdad.
ES Tunis go top
Meanwhile, ES Tunis shot up to the summit of Group C after a clinical display at home in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League during an interesting duel against rivals, ES Sahel on Saturday evening in Tunis.
The two Tunisian giants kicked off their group stage campaign on home soil in a highly anticipated derby that concluded with hosts, ES Tunis walking away as 2-0 victors.
After a fairly balanced opening half, with equal number of chances on either side, ES Tunis found two goals in succession in the second half to secure a confidence boosting victory at home.
A goal at the hour mark by Yan Sasses which was immediately followed by a 64th minute penalty conversion by Yassine Meriah meant the derby went in favour ES Tunis who went top of the group.
Elsewhere, in a simultaneous Group C fixture played in Angola, Petro de Luanda registered a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sudanese side, Al-Hilal in a fixture played in Luanda to join ES Tunis at the top with three points.
A solitary strike in the 37th minute by Inacio Miguel was enough to give the Angolan side the vital three points on home soil.
Petro will be looking at improving on their impressive run two seasons ago that saw them go all the way to the semi-finals of the competition.
They will have harder task to accomplish next week when they travel to Tunisia to face a wounded ES Sahel who will be looking at redeeming themselves following today’s disappointment.
Al Hilal on the other hand will need to get a result against the group leaders when they welcome ES Tunis to Sudan next weekend.