CAF giants hope home advantage can bring a change of luck



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Etoile has twice won the African version of the UEFA Europa League, Raja is the trophy holder and Zamalek can boast of having won nine CAF titles.

But the North African trio did not have the expected impact as the four groups started with the Raja draw twice and Etoile and Zamalek only got one point each.

Raja plays Morocco's Renaissance Berkane compatriots in Group A on Matchday 3, Etoile faces Enugu Rangers of Nigeria in Group B and Zamalek will meet Petro Atletico of Angola in Group D.

Zesco United, of Zambia, is the exception among the four seeds that won their first Group C game, but they then lost their first game away.

AFP Sport will present its third round of matches as the 16 contenders for the eight quarter-final places start a busy schedule playing four Sundays in a row.

group A

French coach Raja Patrice Carteron, recently recruited, is under pressure as his team has won only one of their last five qualifying and group matches, namely a solo goal.

The impressive home and away matches that led Raja to victory in the competition last year left them and their top scorer in Africa, Badr Banoun, two goals, is a central defender.

Hbadania Agadir, the third Moroccan club of the section, welcomes AS Otoho Oyo from Congo Brazzaville, who needs a maximum of points to return to the first two places.

Group B

Enugu is the only undefeated Confederations Cup team with six wins and two draws as he prepares to face the star in their Mediterranean fortress in Sousse.

The star is almost unbeatable when the Olympic Stadium, which has 30,000 seats, is packed. The defeat against CS Sfaxien, his Tunisian compatriot, was a shock.

Enugu, hoping to become the first Nigerian winner of this 16-year-old competition, forced the draw for the second match day in Sfaxien and will aim to take at least one point in Sousse.

Group C

The Zambian contenders, Nkana and Zesco, will want to continue in the same line of home victories in this section by welcoming respectively Asante Kotoko (Ghana) and Al Hilal (Sudan).

Captured by striker Walter Bwalya, Nkana is aiming to extend the record of 58 undefeated home games in a CAF competition since its debut in 1983.

Hilal nominated for the third time Tunisian coach Nabil al Kouki after sacking his compatriot, Irad Zafouri, after a second-day defeat at Nkana this month.

Group D

Zamalek won the last CAF title 16 years ago and must get the most points against Petro in Alexandria to keep a realistic chance of qualifying for the round of 16.

The White Knights have an impressive team composed of several Egyptian stars, Tunisians Hamdi el Nagguez and Ferjani Sbadi and Moroccans Khalid Boutaib and Hamid Ahaddad.

But an unusually porous defense conceded four goals to Kenya's Goran, and a last-minute tying goal, to surprise the group's leader, Algerian NA Hussein Dey.

dl / dj

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