CAFCL: Rivers United In For A Crunchy Tie As Al Ahly Start Title Defence Journey

CAFCL: Rivers United In For A Crunchy Tie As Al Ahly Start Title Defence Journey By Omolagba Oluwayemi Africa's biggest club footballing competition makes a return this weekend as Nigeria's sole representative, Rivers United will host Sudanese side Al Hilal. The Pride of Rivers put up a good performance against Young Africans of Tanzania both home and away in the previous round. Defending champions, Al Ahly of Egypt will start their campaign with a trip to Niger without several first team players, most notably Mohamed Magdy Afsha, Mohamed El-Shennawy, Hussien El-Shahat, and Salah Mohsen. New signings Percy Tau, Luís Miquissone, Karim Fouad, and Hossam Hassan, as well as returnees Ahmed Ashraf Abdelkader and Amar Hamdi, didn’t make the cut. South Africa giant, Mamelodi Sundowns travel up to DR Congo this weekend for the first leg of their Champions League tie against Maniema, who finished second in Ligue 1 last season and went past Bouenguidi FC of Gabon in the first round to reach the last qualifying stage before the group stages. The Brazilians will feel encouraged that their experience and familiarity with continental football will provide them with the edge in dealing with whatever their opponents throw in their direction. South Africa legend, Benny McCarthy will lead his side Amazulu out against DR Congo giants in Durban TP Mazembe. Ahead of the showdown, McCarthy has reiterated that they will not be bothered by TP Mazembe's history of success during their Caf Champions League encounter on Friday at Moses Mabhida Stadium. TP Mazembe are Africa's five-time Champions League winners and have been crowned Confederation Cup kings twice, but going into the second preliminary encounter at home, McCarthy said they will not fear them but they will accord the DR Congo side respect. "We couldn’t have asked for a more difficult opponent to face. They’re one of the powerhouses in Africa," McCarthy said as per Sowetan Live. "They have a history that you have to respect, but I don’t think there’s much for us to fear because we’ve passed that stage where we fear other teams. We respect them for what they’ve done, but to fear them is something different. "We’ll just be focusing on our game and what we need to do and really not be bothered too much about the opposition and their history. Our goal is to get into the group stages where we can contest against the best and biggest teams in Africa. "We're going to try to be organised, be prepared and do what we need to do. That’s to play to our strength and be the best at what we have. At the end of the day, it’s down to the players if we go through and get a good result." Full Fixtures Stade Malien vs Horoya Jwaneng Galaxy vs Simba Maniema Union vs Mamelodi Sundowns Nouadhibou vs ES Serif Otoho d'Oyo vs Petro de Luanda Hearts of Oak vs Wydad AC Rivers United vs Al Hilal LPRC Oilers vs Raja Casablanca Al Ittitad vs ES Tunis Amazulu vs TP Mazembe Tusker vs Zamalek APR vs Etoile du Sahel Sagrada Esperanca vs Royal Leopards ASEC vs CR Belouizdad USGN vs Al Ahly Al-Merrikh vs Zanaco. Fixtures will be played on Saturday 16th October 2021 and Sunday 17th October, 2021.