Zamalek comeback keeps Caf Cup hopes alive

Egyptian club Zamalek staged a stunning comeback to defeat Djibouti visitors Arta Solar 4-1 on Saturday and secure a Caf Confederation Cup group stage place.

The 'White Knights' began the second leg of the final round qualifier trailing 2-0 after a shock loss in East Africa two weeks ago.

That deficit stretched to three goals on aggregate after 17 minutes when Warsama Houssein scored to give Arta the lead on the night.

With no further goals in the first half, Zamalek had to score at least four times in the second half to avoid a shock exit from the African equivalent of the Uefa Europa League.

The comeback began on 49 minutes when Youssef 'Obama' Ibrahim netted and four minutes later veteran Mahmoud 'Shikabala' Abdelrazek scored a second Zamalek goal.

Ahmed 'Zizo' Sayed struck for the Egyptian outfit on 74 minutes to give Zamalek a 3-1 second-leg lead and level the aggregate score, but Solar were still ahead on away goals.

Tunisian defender Hamza Mathlouthi completed the remarkable recovery by scoring one minute from the end of regular time.

Zamalek squeezed through 4-3 on aggregate and Arta's hopes of becoming the first Djibouti club to qualify for the group stage were dashed.

Winners of 11 titles, Zamalek are the joint second most successful club in Caf competitions behind fellow Cairo club Al Ahly, who have 24 titles.

Named after a Cairo suburb, Zamalek have won the Champions League five times, the Super Cup on four occasions and the Confederation Cup and now defunct African Cup Winners Cup once each.

STADE MALIEN SCRAPE THROUGH

Malian club Stade Malien, winners of the 2009 Confederation Cup, scraped into the group stage after a 3-1 defeat by Aigle Noir of Burundi in Dar es Salaam.

Stade, the only club from Mali to lift a Caf trophy, progressed on away goals after winning the first leg 2-0 in Bamako.

Ibrahim Traore gave Stade a halftime lead in a return match staged in the Tanzanian commercial capital because Burundi does not have an international-standard stadium.

But a second-half hat-trick by Abdi Ineza took Aigle to the brink of a shock victory over vastly experienced African campaigners Stade.

Other clubs to reach the group stage included Dreams of Ghana, Academie SOAR of Guinea, Esperanca Sagrada of Angola and Libyan duo Al Hilal Benghazi and Abu Salim.