Nigerian and Egyptian champions sail on in African Champions League

Enyimba of Nigeria and Ismailia of Egypt sealed convincing second round successes this weekend to reach the lucrative group phase of the African Champions League for the first time.

And they will be joined in the July 10 draw, which divides the eight survivors into two groups, by USMA of Algeria, who advanced despite being forced to stage their home fixture 430 kilometres from Algiers.

Africa Sports of Ivory Coast staged another great escape to scrape into the African Cup Winners Cup quarter-finals and were joined by Baladeyet al-Mehalla of Egypt and Julius Berger of Nigeria.

CAF Cup holders JS Kabylie of Algeria were surprisingly held 0-0 at home by Sonacos of Senegal, but advanced on the away-goal rule. Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Green Buffaloes of Zambia were other qualifiers.

Seeking to become the first Nigerian winners of the premier African club competition, Enyimba held Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal 0-0 in Dakar to qualify 4-0 on aggregate.

While the outcome was not unexpected, the victory margin was surprisingly wide considering the inexperience of Enyimba and the fact that Jeanne d'Arc beat title holders Al-Ahly of Egypt at home and away last year.

The draw favoured Ismailia with rivals Port Louis of Mauritius the weakest contenders and after a 1-0 win on the Indian Ocean island, the North Africans ran riot at home to win 6-0 with five goals coming during the second half.

Sayed Meawwad set the goal rush in motion after 24 minutes and Mohamed Abougreisha and Abdel Rahman Traore (two each) and Ahmed Fathi were the other marksmen.

Crowd trouble at an African Cup Winners Cup semi-final last year led to USMA being barred from staging international fixtures at home for one year so they switched to Constantine.

Well positioned after holding Stade Malien of Mali 1-1 in Bamako, USMA won the second leg 2-0 thanks to goals from experienced African campaigners Issad Bourahli and Bilal Dziri.

Africa Sports were staring elimination after losing 2-1 at home to former African giants Hafia of Guinea, but hit back with a 2-0 victory in Conakry courtesy of goals from Ble and Kouadio.

In the first round, the Ivorians were held by Dyto of Togo in Abidjan and needed a late second leg goal to win the match and the tie. Africa Sports have lifted the Cup Winners Cup twice and been runners-up twice.

A 0-0 draw with Al-Hilal of Sudan in Omdurman saw Baladeyet al-Mehalla of Egypt safely through and a couple of late goals lifted Julius Berger to a 3-1 win over Mozambican visitors Costa do Sol.

Al-Mehalla and Julius Berger qualified 4-2 on aggregate and seem serious contenders for a trophy that honours former South African president Nelson Mandela and was won by Moroccan outfit Wydad Casablanca last year.

Chasing a record fourth consecutive CAF Cup title, Kabylie were grateful for the goal Abdelhamid Berguigua scored in Dakar as Sonacos offered unexpectedly stiff resistance in Tizi-Ouzou, a provincial capital east of Algiers.

Raja Casablanca swept aside Gabonese visitors FC 105 6-1 to avenge a narrow first leg loss while Green Buffaloes followed up a five goal thrashing of Saint Michel United with a 2-1 win in Seychelles.