Mixed CAF Cup fortunes for east African Police clubs

The Kenyan Police team won and qualified and the Rwandan Police side lost and were eliminated in the CAF Confederation Cup first round, second legs on Sunday.

South Sudanese Rashid Toha scored the only goal of a two-leg tie against Ethiopian opponents Coffee after 19 minutes in Addis Ababa to take his Kenyan club through 1-0 on aggregate.

Victory earned the Nairobi-based outfit a final qualifying round showdown with title-holders Zamalek of Egypt, who also won the African equivalent of the Uefa Europa League in 2019.

Both legs are scheduled for September with the Kenyans enjoying home advantage first as they seek to reach the group stage at the first attempt.

Hopes of two Police clubs from east Africa advancing were raised when Nigerian Elijah Ani gave the Rwandan team an early lead over Algerian visitors CS Constantine.

His goal halved the two-goal advantage the north Africans took to Kigali after the first leg last weekend.

But Zakaria Benchaa dealt a huge blow to the local side five minutes before halftime when he equalised in a stadium named after deceased Brazilian superstar Pele.

It left the hosts needing to score at least three goals to survive, and the situation deteriorated further on 60 minutes when Mounder Temine netted a second Constantine goal.

The Algerian club retained the lead for a 2-1 second-leg victory and a 4-1 aggregate triumph, which secured a second-round date with Nsoatreman from Ghana.

Coastal Union of Tanzania were another east African side to fail after being held 0-0 by Angolan visitors Bravos Maquis in Dar es Salaam.

Bravos won 3-0 on aggregate and will play Saint-Eloi Lupopo from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo next month.

The other Angolan challengers, Lunda Sul, also drew 0-0, at home to Elgeco Plus of Madagascar in Luanda, and progressed on away goals after a 1-1 first-leg stalemate.

Lunda have been paired with Sekhukhune United of South Africa, one of 12 clubs who received byes based on previous results in the competition, in the second round.

Paynesville achieved rare home and away victories for a Liberian club in a CAF competition when they defeated Fovu Baham of Cameroon 1-0 in Yaounde through a 47th-minute Mark Paye goal.

The Liberians took a 4-0 lead into the return match after Fovu fielded only eight players in the first leg as others in the travelling party were not registered with CAF.