CAIRO – Egypt’s Pyramids FC defeated Hilal al-Sahil of Sudan 2-0 in the first-leg of the CAF Confederation Cup second preliminary round at Cairo’s Air Defence Stadium.
Tunisia international striker Fakhreddine Ben Youssef opened the scoring in the 10th minute as winger Moustafa Fathi added the second in the 78th minute.
The Egyptian side reached the final two years ago and the semi-finals the following season.
Pyramids FC will play the second-leg on October 15 at the Air Defence Stadium as well because Hilal al-Sahil lacks an international-standard stadium.
Elsewhere, former African giants Hearts of Oak from Ghana was humbled 3-0 by Real Bamako of Mali in the first-leg.
The home side led 2-0 at half-time and completed the win 15 minutes from time to leave the Accra outfit with a difficult second-leg task next Sunday.
Ibourahima Sidibe opened the scoring after just 11 minutes and Denis Korsah conceded an own goal before the break, AFP reported.
After Hearts twice came close to reducing the deficit, Cheickna Diakite was given time and space by the tiring Ghanaians to net the third goal in Bamako.
Scoring three times will boost Real morale in the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League as they failed to score at home or away in a preliminary tie settled by a penalty shootout.
Hearts won three CAF competitions — the Champions League, Super Cup and Confederation Cup — between 2000 and 2004 and a bright future seemed ahead.
But they failed to build on their successes and if fall to Real, African powerhouses Ghana will have no representative in the group phase of the 2023 CAF club competitions.
The sacking of head coach Samuel Boadu after a winless three-match start to the domestic league disrupted Hearts’ preparations with assistant David Ocloo taking charge.
Azam of Tanzania was another club to suffer a 3-0 away loss, conceding three goals to Al Akhdar of Libya during the final minutes of the opening half in Benghazi.
Ferroviario Beira of Mozambique, one of the less fancied challengers, came from behind to beat Diables Noirs of Congo Brazzaville 2-1 in Maputo with Nigerian Oghenemarho Ifoni scoring twice.
