FIRST ROUND FALLOUT;NORTH AFRICA CLUBS DOMINATE CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AGAIN AS KANO PILLARS CRASHED OUT

North African clubs were the big winners in the return leg of the first round of qualifying in the CAF Champions League, with seven teams from the region advancing to the last 16 of the competition. As four of the clubs have been drawn against each other, a total of five clubs could remain in the competition once the group stage gets underway later in July. The winner of the event will represent the continent at the FIFA World Club Cup in Morocco at the end of the year.

Game of the week
Enugu Rangers  beats 2-0 Vital'O,Makes historic 2nd Round
Making only their second appearance in the Champions League, Nigeria’s Enugu Rangers advanced to the second round for the first time in their history with a 2-0 second leg and aggregate win against Vital'O. Rangers coach Okey Emordi had to take off two injured defenders late during the game and could not replace them as he had already made his three substitutions, but they had enough of a cushion from early goals by Uche Oguchi and Efe Yarhere. The home side should have been further ahead in the second-half, but Sanusi Sani hit the crossbar and Alhaji Gero saw his shot well saved by the visiting goalkeeper. The visitors were thrown a life-line in second-half injury time when Yarhere brought down a Vital'O player in the box, but Ranger's goalkeeper Godwin Ayalogu pulled off a fine save from Steve Nzigamasabo to deny the club from Burundi a consolation goal.

The surprise
AC Leopards 3-0 Kano Pillars,pillars OUT
After winning the home leg 4-1 against Congolese club AC Leopards, Nigerian champions Kano Pillars were expected to get the job done in the return leg and advance to the final qualifying round of the competition. However, it was not to be as the home side scored in the first half to play themselves back into contention. Two second-half goals - the last an injury-time penalty - saw Leopards advance on the away goal rule after the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate. The result also denies Nigeria an opportunity to have both their Champions League entrants qualify for the lucrative group stage of the competition for the first time since 2009.

Other matches
Egyptian giants Al Ahly, secured a 2-0 win against Tusker for a 4-1 aggregate victory, with Emad Meteab scoring the second goal to take his tally from the tie to three. The defending champions will be joined in the second round by compatriots Zamalek, who played to a goalless draw in Kinshasa against AS Vita Club for a 1-0 aggregate victory. Algeria also have two representatives in the next round as JSM Bejaia surprised Asante Kotoko 1-1 in Kumasi and went through on the away goal rule after a scoreless first leg, while ES Setif beat ASFA Yennenga from Burkina Faso 4-2 for a 5-3 aggregate victory. The only other country with two clubs in the final round of qualifying is Tunisia after Khalil Chammam gave Esperance a 1-0 victory against Primeiro de Agosto, and CA Bizertin advanced 3-1 on aggregate despite losing 1-0 in Zimbabwe against Dynamos. The final North African team in the second round is Moroccan club FUS Rabat, who also lost 1-0 in Cameroon against Union Douala, but went through 3-1 on aggregate.

Ethiopian club Saint George held Djoliba to a 1-1 draw and went through 3-1 on aggregate, while former champions TP Mazembe recorded the biggest win of the round beating Mochudi Centre Chiefs 6-0, with Tresor Mabi Mputu scoring twice. Angola’s Recreativo do Libolo repeated their 2-1 first leg victory against Al-Merrikh in Sudan. Cameroon's Coton Sport, who were runners up in 2008, managed a 2-1 victory against AFAD Djekanou to advance, while Stade Malien also won their second match of the round against Casa Sport 2-0 for a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Player of the week
Côte d'Ivoire club Sewe Sport thought they had done most of the hard work done in their opening game against Sudanese club Al Hilal after a 4-1 victory. But the return leg in Omdurman turned out to be anything but easy, as Mohamed Tahir, Ahmed El Basha and Mohamed Traore gave Al Hilal a 3-0 lead, which would have been enough to go through to the next round on the away goal rule. However, there was last drama as Kako Rostan scored a goal for his side deep into injury time to put the visitors through 5-4 on aggregate. Judging by the young Cameroon striker's performance against Al Hilal, more will be heard of him during the season.

First round  Results
Team 1                       Agg.                 Team 2                                                    1st leg 2nd leg
Zamalek Egypt                1–0     Democratic Republic of the Congo AS Vita Club     1–0     0–0
Saint George Ethiopia     3–1     Mali Djoliba     2–0     1–1
CA Bizertin Tunisia     3–1     Zimbabwe Dynamos     3–0     0–1
Tusker Kenya     1–4     Egypt Al-Ahly     1–2     0–2
Zanaco Zambia     1–3     South Africa Orlando Pirates     0–1     1–2
Mochudi Centre Chiefs Botswana     0–7     Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe     0–1     0–6
Vital'O Burundi     0–2     Nigeria Enugu Rangers     0–0     0–2
Recreativo do Libolo Angola     4–2     Sudan Al-Merrikh     2–1     2–1
JSM Béjaïa Algeria     1–1 (a)     Ghana Asante Kotoko     0–0     1–1
Primeiro de Agosto Angola     0–2     Tunisia Espérance ST     0–1     0–1
FUS Rabat Morocco     3–1     Cameroon Union Douala     3–0     0–1
Séwé Sport Ivory Coast     5–4     Sudan Al-Hilal     4–1     1–3
AFAD Djékanou Ivory Coast     1–3     Cameroon Coton Sport     0–1     1–2
Casa Sport Senegal     1–4     Mali Stade Malien     1–2     0–2
Kano Pillars Nigeria     3–4     Republic of the Congo AC Léopards     4–1     0–3
ASFA Yennenga Burkina Faso     4–5     Algeria ES Sétif     2–1     2–4

Second round Fixtures

Zamalek Egypt                              VS               Ethiopia Saint George             
CA Bizertin Tunisia                 VS               Egypt Al-Ahly    
Orlando Pirates South Africa   VS              DR Congo TP Mazembe    
Enugu Rangers Nigeria                  VS              Angola Recreativo do Libolo    
JSM Béjaïa Algeria                 VS              Tunisia Espérance ST    
FUS Rabat Morocco                 VS     Ivory Coast Séwé Sport    
Coton Sport Cameroon                 VS    Mali Stade Malien    
Kano Pillars Nigeria                  VS               Algeria ES Sétif    

First leg will be played on friday of 19th - Sunday 21st of April and the 2nd leg will come up on Friday 3rd of May  - 5th of May 2013

The losers from the second round enter the 2013 CAF Confederation Cup play-off round. While the winners make it to the Money spinning Group stages