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Match Preview; Enyimba vs Zamalek

By Unknown 06:21:00 CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, CAF CUPS

With three of the four games already decided, Nigeria league champions Enyimba and Egypt league champions Zamalek will be in search of maximum points when both teams begin their quest for a CAF Champions League trophy on Sunday, June 19.

It was a nightmare start for 9-time champions Ah Ahly as they lost to 3-2 at Zesco United of Zambia in the group A CAF Champions League group.

It was the first defeat in the competition for Dutch coach Martin Jol, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager, after two victories and two draws in qualifiers and a disappointing return for the Egyptian power house after a two-year absence.

The other Group A match involved two former African champions which saw Salaheddine Saidi header earned Wydad Casablanca of Morocco a 1-0 away win over Asec Mimosas of the Ivory Coast.

Group B kicked off on Saturday, June 18, when Entente Setif of Algeria lost 2-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa. Fully aware of the Sundowns victory, Enyimba will be hoping to make good use of home advantage to secure maximum points against their Egyptian rival.

However, the Peoples Elephant go into the game on the back of a poor run in the Nigeria Professional Football League – with three defeats and a draw in their last four games.

At the other end, Coach Mohammed Helmy will be missing the services of five key players owing to injuries and disciplinary issue, including captain, Mahmoud Shikabala, who is not fit for the clash. Both sides are experiencing contrasting fortunes in their domestic leagues with Enyimba placing seventh in the NPFL while Zamalek are second in the Egyptian elite division.

Coach Helmy’s team have all but lost their Egyptian title to rivals Al Ahly and now seek consolation from the Champions League Helmy told NAIJ.com:

“My players have learned from our mistake against El-Shorta game over the weekend. “It was a good lesson for the players ahead of the CAF Champions League game. Enyimba is expected to be very difficult so we have to concentrate on the game, but we have what it take to get a good result.”

The Enyimba Vs Zamalek game will take place at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt on Sunday, June 19. Kickoff time is 4pm and soccer120.com will bring you live coverage of the encounter.

No Gate Fee! Enyimba throw Stadium Gates Open for Zamalek Clash

By Unknown 13:18:00 CAF, CAF CUPS, ENYIMBA, NEWS

Nigeria champions Enyimba have thrown open the gates for Sunday’s CAF Champions League Group B clash against Zamalek of Egypt with club boss Felix Anyansi-Agwu calling for total support for the home team in Port Harcourt.

Anyansi in a Radio interview said the players are fully prepared for the battle on Sunday.

The club chief said he believes his boys have done their homework with the way and manner they were responding to training.

He further revealed that 10 buses will be available at the Enyimba Stadium, Aba, on Sunday morning to convey fans of the club to the Adokiye Amiesiamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt to cheer them to victory.

The People’s Elephants are Nigeria’s only surviving club on the continent this season.

They are two-time champions of Africa, having won the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004.

We will beat Zamalek -- Udoji

By Unknown 08:19:00 CAF CUPS, ENYIMBA, NEWS

Despite the pedigree of their opponent's in Sunday's CAF Champions League game in Port Harcourt, Enyimba Captain, Chinedu Udoji, says the Peoples Elephant will come out of the clash against Zamalek of Egypt unscratched.

Enyimba will host Zamalek in a first Group B game of the competition at the Adokie Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt.

Udoji, who disclosed that he has recovered fully from an eye injury to be available for Sunday's game, strongly believes the Aba team will overcome Zamalek just as they did Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia.

The central defender has been absent from Enyimba's recent games due to the surgery, but he says everything is fine with him now.

"We know the quality of opposition awaiting us on Sunday and so we are prepared for them. It will not be an easy game and we are under no illusion that it would be. All we require is the massive support of Nigerians to beat them comfortably," he said.

Coming into Sunday's game, Zamalek has left out injury-hit skipper, Mahmoud Shikabala, but named Nigeria's Moruf Youssef and Zambia forward Emmanuel Mayuka on a 19-man squad for the trip to Nigeria.

The team also left out playmaker, Ayman Hefny, because of injury.

The Egyptian champions will be counting on former Southampton striker, Mayuka, for goals in Nigeria against Enyimba.

The Champions League group game will be played on Sunday and kick-off time is 4.00 p.m. local time.

Algeria's ES Setif and South Africa's Mamelodi Sundown's complete the Group B pool, and lock horns tomorrow

Zamalek names 18 man strong squad ahead of Enyimba clash

By Unknown 22:32:00 CAF CUPS, ENYIMBA, NEWS

Chief coach of Zamalek Mohammed Helmy has named a strong squad to face Enyimba in Sunday’s Caf Champions League encounter billed for the Aba Township Stadium.

The 18 man squad is made up of 11 Egyptian senior national team players and one Zambian national team star as they hope to begin the group phase on a winning not in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Koffi was excluded owing to disciplinary reasons while Ayman Hefyny and Ahmed Hamoudi are missing due to injury.

The White Knight having lost 3-2 at home to Al Masry in the Egyptian Premier League on Monday, depart for Nigeria on Thursday morning.

Mohammed Helmy after their game on Sunday against Paul Aigbogun’s side will face Mamelodi Sundowns and ES Setif in Group B of the competition.

LIST IN FULL

Goalkeepers: Ahmed El-Shenawy, Mohamed Abou Gabal
Defenders: Hazem Emam, Ahmed Duiedar, Ali Gabr, Hamada Tolba, Mohamed Adel Gomaa, Ramzi Khaled
Midfielders: Maarouf Youssef, Tarek Hamed, Ibrahim Abdel-Khaleq, Ahmed Tawfik, Mostafa Fathi, Mohamed Ibrahim, Mahmoud Khaled
Forwards: Emmanuel Mayuka, Ahmed Hassan, Mohammed Salem.

Nigeria may face Algeria, Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire for 2018 World Cup ticket

By Unknown 12:52:00 AFRICA, CAF, CAF CUPS, NEWS, NIGERIA, SUPER EAGLES

Caf has announced the seedings for the World Cup 2018 qualifying draw for June 24, with Nigeria, Egypt, Cape Verde, Congo DR and Mali all included in Pot Two.

African champions Cote d’ivoire are named among the top seeds, along with 2014 Fifa World Cup quarter finalists, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal.

Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa and Congo are confirmed in Pot Three, while Uganda, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Gabon and Libya find themselves in Pot Four.

With this, the Super Eagles are likely to face Algeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire or Senegal as they hope to secure their sixth World Cup ticket.

The seedings for the Third Round ties – to be held on June 24 in Cairo were determined based on a special edition of the Fifa World Rankings released on 8 June 2016 to allow the inclusion the results of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification games played between 3–5 June 2016.

The 20 teams will be drawn into five groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches with the winners of each group picking a ticket for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

This round of qualification will be played from 3 October 2016 to 14 November 2017.

POTS IN FULL

Pot 1: Algeria, Cöte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia
Pot 2: Cape Verde, Egypt, Congo DR, Nigeria and Mali
Pot 3: Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa and Congo
Pot 4: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Gabon and Libya

Enyimba gets dates for CAF Champions League group stage matches.

By Unknown 21:23:00 CAF CUPS, ENYIMBA, NEWS

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the dates of the 2016 CAF Champions League group stage matches.

Nigeria representatives in Africa’s top-tier competition Enyimba now knows the date for their CAF Champions League group stage matches.

Enyimba will host Zamalek in Port Harcourt on June 19, before hosting Algerian ES Steif at Petrosport Stadium .

Zamalek will then take on Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. on July 17 at Petrosport Stadium, before traveling to face them away at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on July 27. They will then face Enymba at home in the fifth round on August 14, and will be away in the sixth round when they face ES Steif on either August 23 or 24.

Egypt’s representatives Al Ahly will kick-off their campaign with an away game against Zesco on June 18, before hosting ASEC Mimosas on June 28. The Red Devils will face Wydad Casablanca at Borg El-Arab Stadium in Alexandria on July 16, before the Egyptian giants travel to Morocco for the away leg on July 27.

In the fifth round, Al Ahly will host Zesco on August 12, before they conclude their games against ASEC Mimosas away on August 23 or 24.

AHLI and Makkasa ends in a draw

By Unknown 21:24:00 CAF CUPS

The third round of the CAF Confederation Cup first leg match between Misr Lel-Makkasa Sporting Club and Al Ahli failed to produce goals and ended in a 0-0 draw on Friday evening at Stade Chedly-Zouiten in Tunisia.

Although the Egyptian side, Lel-Makkasa SSC went to Tunisia against the Libyan outfit, Ahli, aiming for an away win, they failed to get the win.

There were no goals in the first half and upon their return from the break, both sides couldn't create goalscoring opportunities.

Following the 0-0 draw, coach Ehab Galal will now fight to ensure their Libyan opponent returns home empty handed when they host them in Fayoum, Egypt.

Meanwhile, Makkasa's coach Jamal Abunawara will be left disappointed with the result as they have failed to to utilise their home advantage meaning they face an uphill battle in Egypt.

The return leg is set to be staged in Egypt on May 17 and both sides still have a chance of reaching the group stages.

Etoile du Sahel beats Gabon's CF Mounana

By Unknown 21:22:00 CAF CUPS

Etoile Sportive du Sahel have cruised past Gabon's CF Mounana via a 2-0 win in their third round of CAF Confederation first leg tie on Friday night at Stade Olympique de Sousse in Sousse.

The hosts were the favourites to use their home advantage as they were expected to fight harder and maximise their chances of defending their crown.

Faouzi Benzarti's men grabbed the lead on the stroke of half time through defender Zied Boughattas ensuring the Tunisian side went to the interval in the driving seat.

It was 1-0 at half time and the second stanza saw coach Kevin Ibinga's side kept under pressure as the Diables Rouges probed for their second goal.

However, the Gabonese side finally succumbed to the attack when midfielder Mohammed Msakni netted their second in the 65th minute ensuring the hosts are comfortable.

Although the hosts pushed forward for their third goal, the Gabonese defended well and the final score was 2-0.

Ibinga will now have to ensure his charges are motivated and will aim to do better at home in the return leg set for 17 May 2016 at Stade Augustin Monédan de Sibang in Libreville.