Tanzanian club Simba became African Champions League giantkillers this weekend despite failing to score in 180 minutes of first round action.
A 0-0 draw with South African visitors Santos in Dar es Salaam on Sunday led to a marathon penalty shootout which the local team won 9-8 to earn a second round showdown against title holders Zamalek of Egypt.
Santos were in trouble after a dour goalless first leg deadlock in windy Cape Town two weeks ago and became the first South African side to be eliminated in the initial round of the premier African club competition.
Port Louis of Mauritius were the other surprise qualifiers for the second and last knockout round before the competition alters to a mini-league format for the eight survivors.
Stephane Lensle scored with 60 seconds left to give the Indian Ocean island hosts a 2-0 victory over Ferroviario of Mozambique and a 3-1 shootout success clinched a tie against Ismailia of Egypt.
There were notable away victories for Hearts of Oak of Ghana and AS Aviacao of Angola, who clash in the second round during May. Hearts downed Douanes 3-1 in Togo while Aviacao beat Villa 2-0 in Uganda.
Having made shock first round exits in the previous two editions after being crowned 2000 champions, Hearts must have feared the worst after taking a 1-0 lead to Lome and falling behind just eight minutes into the first half.
But the pride of Accra hit back hard in the second half with goals from Bernard Bortey, Wisdom Abbey and Emmanuel Kuffour securing a comfortable passage. Shock 2-1 losers at home after investing heavily in new players, airline club Aviacao left it late in Kampala with Arsenio ‘Love’ Cabungula scoring after 79 and 88 minutes.
The most sensational comeback was in vain with Al-Merreikh of Sudan caning Canon Yaounde of Cameroon 4-0 in Omdurman only to go out after a five goal first leg mauling in Central Africa.
Haitham al-Rashid scored a hat-trick and when Ammar Kadouk got the fourth with 10 minutes left, the Sudanese were on the verge of staging the greatest recovery in 40 years of Champions League football. Invincible at home, Zamalek often struggle away so a 4-1 thrashing of Nzoia Sugar in Kenya sounded an ominous warning to the 15 other challengers for the one million dollar first prize.
The White Knights led 3-0 from the first leg. Rwandan victories in international club competitions are rare so the 8-0 triumph of army club APR over US Kenya of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the African Cup Winners Cup triggered lengthy celebrations around Kigali.
Oliver Karekezi was destroyer in chief with four goals, Jimmy Gatete got two and Freddie Rusamganwa and Jimmy Mulisa one each for APR, who suffered a 2-1 defeat in Kinshasa.
The surprise of the CAF Cup for national league runners-up came in an Indian Ocean derby as Doamina Soavina Astimondrano of Madagascar fell 1-0 at home to Saint Michel United of Seychelles.
Alex Nibourette struck the only goal of the tie with six minutes left in Antananarivo and the reward for United is a second round clash with Zambian army club Green Buffaloes. – Sapa-AFP