Seven-time Nigeria champions Enyimba and Mamelodi Sundowns of South

Africa overcame first leg losses to qualify for the first round of the

Champions League at the weekend.

Striker Mfon Udoh, who missed Enyimba’s first leg visit to Vipers a

fortnight ago, scored twice for the Nigeria champions to advance on a

2-1 aggregate to the first round, where they will face Vital ‘O of

Burundi next month.

Before Sunday’s game, Enyimba had only managed three goals in their last eight matches.

“We are first relieved that we were able to put away our chances

against Vipers. We have been playing well and creating many chances, but

we have struggled to convert those chances,” said Enyimba skipper

Chinedu Udoji.

“They tested us, but we were the better team and deserved to qualify to the next round,” added two-goal hero Udoh

South Africa’s Sundowns will face AC Leopards of Congo in the first

round of the competition, but they had to wait till deep into stoppage

time for Katlego Mashego to tuck away a penalty and eliminate

hard-fighting Chicken Inn from Zimbabwe.

South Africa’s other representatives, Kaizer Chiefs, are also through

to the Champions League first round after they walked over Volcan after

they won the first encounter 4-0 in the Comoros Islands.

Amakhosi, as the South Africa champions are known by their fans (it

means Chiefs in Zulu), have now set up an interesting clash against

Ivory Coast legends ASEC Mimosas. They laboured to see off CotonTchad

from Chad 1-0 on aggregate after they were held to a scoreless draw in

Abidjan at the weekend.

The preliminary round second leg match between Niger’s AS Douanes and

Wydad Casablanca from Morocco has been postponed after a strike at the

Niamey airport.

Angola’s Recreativo Libolo will be one of the teams to watch in the

first round after they posted the biggest win of the preliminary round

as they trounced Racing Micomeseng from Equatorial Guinea 9-1 aggregate.

Mamadou Diawara fired a hat-trick at Racing Micomeseng for the

Angolans, who face a daunting task in the next round against eight-time

champions Al Ahly of Egypt.

Zambia’s Zesco United, Etoile of Congo, Olympique Khouribga from

Morocco, Stade Malien of Mali and Guinea’s Horoya have also progressed

to the round of 32 of the Champions League.

Defending champions TP Mazembe, Etoile du Sahel from Tunisia,

Algeria’s ES Setif as well as Sudan giants Al Hilal and Al Merreikh will

begin their own Champions League campaign in the first round after they

were all handed a bye.

The first round first leg matches will be played between March 11-13 with the second legs fixed for the weekend of March 18-20.