CASABLANCA, Morocco – JS Kabylie of Algeria and Raja Casablanca of Morocco will battle it out in the 2020-21 CAF Confederation Cup final on July 10.
Raja beats Pyramids
Anas Zniti saved a penalty in sudden death as Raja defeated last year’s finallists Pyramids 5-4 on post match spot-kicks on Sunday at the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final to sail to the final.
Zniti’s trailing foot stuck out to block Hamdi Mohamed’s penalty as the Moroccan side progressed to the final, where they will face off with Algerian outfit JS Kabylie.
The game was forced to penalties after a second successive barren stalemate in Casablanca, the two sides having also played to a 0-0 draw in the first-leg in Cairo last week. It had to take eight penalties, before a winner was picked out in the tense encounter at the Stade Mohamed V.
Scores were tied at 3-3 after the first five penalties. Soufiane Rahimi and Abdullah el-Said had scored the first two for either side, before Ben Malango missed for the Moroccans.
However, his blushes were wiped when Ramadan Sobhi also missed for Pyramids, keeping the scores at 1-1. While it looked like a relief for Raja, Said al-Wardfali could not take advantage of the new lease of life as he also saw his penalty missed.
On the other end, Wadi Mahmoud scored his penalty as Pyramids went a nose up 2-1. Zakaria el-Wardi returned Raja back to the table scoring their fourth kick but Ahmed Samy took Pyramids back up in the lead.
Mahmoud Benhalib scored his penalty to tie the scores back at 3-3 with Raja’s final kick and it was now up to Pyramids to score their fifth and put the game to bed. However, substitute Mohamed Farouk stepped up and missed his kick, sending the entire Raja side into celebration.
With scores tied at 3-3 for the first five, the game now went to sudden death.
Azrida Mohamed for Raja and Osama Galal for Pyramids both scored as the game tied at 4-4. For the seventh kick, Fabrice Ngoma stepped up for Raja and saw his timid kick saved by the keeper to give Pyramids the advantage.
Up stepped Ahmed Tawfik to take what would have been the winning penalty, but the substitute sent his penalty wildly over, once again Raja breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Abdelilah Madkour stepped up to score Raja’s eighth penalty of the game, earning the Moroccans a 5-4 advantage. Pressure was now on Pyramids to keep up and up stepped Hamdi.
However, the Pyramids man chose to go straight down the middle, but Zniti’s feet stuck out to keep out the penalty and hand Raja the victory and a place in the final.
In regulation time, both sides had chances to score and win, with Raja coming closest with a Malango header that came off the upright.
JS Kabylie stuns Coton Sport
Algeria’s JS Kabylie stormed into the final of the CAF Confederation Cup after a 3-0 victory over Cameroon’s Coton Sport in the return leg of their semi-final on Sunday evening.
The healthy victory in Algiers earned Kabylie a 5-1 aggregate victory having won the first leg in Garoua 2-1 last week. A brace from Zakaria Boulahia, in between Badreddine Souyad’s penalty was all The Canaries needed to sail into a continental final for the first time since 2002.
Kabylie got off to the right start with a goal in the sixth minute when Boulahia struck into the net with a neat low shot from the right after being played through by Mohamed Benchaira.
They continued to dominate the game but they had to wait until the 37th minute before they got their second, this time Souyad converting from the penalty spot to give them a 2-0 advantage on the night and a 4-1 aggregate score.
Boulahia then put the game beyond doubt at the stroke of halftime when he swept the ball home off Walid Bencherifa’s cross from the left.
Kabylie continued to dominate the game in the second half and had the chances to score, but couldn’t add on to their tally.
They will now meet up with Raja Club Athletic in the July 10 finale in Cotonou, looking to add a CAF title to their name.
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