Kenyan club Gor Mahia hammered South Sudanese visitors Al Merreikh Bentiu 5-1 on Sunday to secure a CAF Champions League final qualifying round clash with title-holders Al Ahly of Egypt.
Trailing ahead of the first round, second leg in Nairobi after conceding the only goal of the first encounter last weekend, Gor were soon in deeper trouble as Merreikh opened the scoring.
But the lead given to the visitors by Djibouti-born Samuel Akinbinu lasted only one minute before Chris Ochieng levelled.
Gor scored two more goals, from Alpha Onyango and Alphonce Omija, before halftime to lead 3-1 in the second leg and by one goal on aggregate.
Knowing that another Merreikh goal would put them ahead overall on away goals, Gor supporters endured an anxious second half until Rooney Onyango struck a fourth goal on 81 minutes.
He netted again in added time, leaving Gor 5-2 overall winners with a two-leg tie against record 12-time African champions Ahly to come in September.
🟢 | FULL TIME: Gor Mahia 5 - 1 El-Merriekh
— GOR MAHIA FC (@OfficialGMFC) August 25, 2024
(⚽️ - Chris, Alpha, Omija, Rooney x2).
We win 5-2 on aggregate and sail to the next stage of CAF Champions League.
That was a proper beating. We are Mahia. 💪💪#Sirkal | #GorFansClub pic.twitter.com/LqT7iQvRC9
At stake will be a place in the 16-club group stage and at least $850 000 (€760 000) in prize money.
While Gor want to be the first Kenyan club to reach the mini-league phase, Ahly hope to become the first team to win the Champions League three times in a row.
Elsewhere, Samartex of Ghana completed a double over fellow African debutants Victoria United of Cameroon with an Isaac Afful goal on eight minutes delivering a 1-0 victory in Accra.
The Ghanaians also won the first leg 1-0 and their next opponents will be three-time African champions Raja Casablanca of Morocco, whose last success was in 1999.
It is 24 years since Ghana last won the Champions League when Hearts of Oak beat Esperance of Tunisia home and away.
No club has qualified for the Champions League more often than Al Hilal of Sudan, with their 38th appearance this season bettering the 36 of Ahly.
But after a creditable 1-0 away win over Al Ahly Benghazi in Libya last weekend, they fell behind to a John Mano goal after nine minutes of the return match.
Hilal needed a goal to avoid a penalty shootout, but had to wait until the 83rd minute before Walieldin Khidir equalised to force a 1-1 draw and overall victory.
Because of the ongoing Sudanese civil war, Hilal played in Juba, capital of neighbouring South Sudan. Their next opponents will be San Pedro from the Ivory Coast.