Football: TOTAL Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions league |12 February 2018
St Louis lose 0-1 away to Young Africans
St Louis hope to win the return leg match to advance to the 1/16th round of the TOTAL Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions league after going down 0-1 away against Young Africans of Tanzania.
Playing 27-time Tanzanian champions Young Africans, or ‘Yanga’ as they are better known, in front of their home fans inside the National Stadium on Saturday, St Louis lost by the narrowest of margin ‒ 0-1.
According to reports from Tanzania, substitute Juma Mahadhi netted the only goal on 67 minutes, just two minutes on the pitch after replacing Ibrahim Ajibu, who had earlier missed two sitters in either half.
Young Africans registered six shots on target against two from St Louis and 17 off target.
‘Yanga’ were also awarded a penalty in the 24th minute after defender Hassan Kessy was fouled inside the box but Zambian Obrey Chirwa failed to slot home from his effort.
The sports.onlinenigeria.com wrote that ‘Yanga’ captain Kelvin Yondan was denied on two occasions by St Louis’ Malagasy shot stopper, Michel Ramandimios while midfielder Papy Kabamba Tshishimbi, Pius Buswita and Gadiel Michael were also unsuccessful with shots from the distance.
St Louis host the second leg on Wednesday February 21, 2018 at Stad Linite with the winners advancing to the 1/16th round.
The St Louis delegation was to return home yesterday.
Meanwhile, Anse Reunion were to play their Caf Confederation Cup match against APR of Rwanda yesterday.
What they said after the match:
Shadrack Nsajigwa, Young Africans’ assistant coach: “It was a good game. We are not happy with the narrow victory as it makes things tough for us ahead of the return leg. They played defensively which made it difficult to get good chances to score. We need to work hard so that we can win the next game and progress to the next round”.
St Louis head coach Michel Renaud: “It is bad that we lost, but not by a huge margin. We still have a chance to reach the next round. Things were tough for us as we haven't played a competitive game for a while. ‘Yanga’ are a good team and we need to regroup so that we can beat them at home”.
‘Yanga’ midfielder Juma Mahadhi: “Our coach (George Lwandamina) saw the game and told me what to do when on the pitch to get a goal. I am happy that I managed to score the winner. It was a tough game as we knew nothing about St Louis. We have now seen them play and I believe that we will go to Seychelles with confidence and hopefully progress to the next round”.
St Louis defender and captain Bertrand Esther: “We played well but made a mistake that saw us concede a goal. We are looking forward to the second leg in Seychelles. It will be a tough game but we will play well so that we can win”.
The following are the results of other matches played on Saturday:
CNaPs Sport (Madagascar) 2-1 KCCA (Uganda)
Zanaco (Zambia) 3-0 Armed Forces (Gambia)
Stade Malien (Mali) 1-1 Williamsville AC (Cote d'Ivoire)
RC Kadiogo (Burkina Faso) 1-0 Mounana (Gabon)
Young Africans (Tanzania) 1-0 Saint Louis (Seychelles)
Township Rollers (Botswana) 3-0 El Merreikh (Sudan)
Gor Mahia (Kenya) 2-0 Leones Vegatarianos (Equatorial Guinea)
AC Leopards (Congo) 2-1 AS Port (Togo)
JKU (Zanzibar) 0-0 Zesco (Zambia)
Bidvest (South Africa) 2-0 Pamplemousses (Mauritius)
Rayon Sports (Rwanda) 1-1 Lydia Academic (Burundi)