OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.00pm.
GUINEA club Kaloum sprang the biggest surprise during a weekend of African action with a 3-0 Champions League victory over Shooting Stars of Nigeria, while Sundowns failed to impress and Pirates made good headway in the Cup Winners Cup.
Mamadouba Bangoura dealt the first blow to the West African champions with a 37th-minute goal and Momo Soumah struck twice after half-time.
Although a Nigerian team has never won the leading Pan-African club competition, Stars were considered likely qualifers for the lucrative mini-league second phase. The return match of the delayed first-round tie will be staged in Nigeria over the weekend of May 15-16 with the odds against Stars surviving.
Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Sundowns of South Africa failed to match expectations in second-round matches and face difficult second legs in Mali and Reunion respectively.
Bamako club Djoliba stunned Raja by taking the lead through Moussa Traore. Mebarki Bouchaib equalised on the stroke of half-time before Ougini Zitouni snatched an early second-half winner for the Moroccans.
Sundowns fared even worse at home to severely depleted Stade-Louisienne, who fell behind to a sizzling 34th-minute shot from Roger Feutmba only to level through an Alain Amougou header.
Esperance of Tunisia won by five goals at home, defending champions ASEC of Cote d’Ivoire by four, and Al-Ahly of Egypt and Hearts of Oak from Ghana by three to virtually secure mini-league places.
Dynamos of Zimbabwe, surprise finalists last year, were equally impressive as goals from Lloyd Mutasa and Sandros Kumwena earned a 2-0 win over Vital’O in Burundi.
Meanwhile fancied teams Orlando Pirates of South Africa and Asante Kotoko of Ghana still have work to do on the road before clinching Cup Winners Cup quarter-finals berths.
Pirates raced to a three-goal lead over Maxaquene of Mozambique only to lose the initiative and concede a goal while a first-half strike by Prince Poku was all Kotoko had to show for dominating Al-Masry of Egypt.
Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso provided the upset of the CAF Cup with a 1-1 draw against Vita in the Democratic Republic of Congo while holders CS Sfaxien of Tunisia thrashed Nkana of Zambia 4-0 in North Africa.–AFP