Mazembe, USM reach CAF Champions League final
Clubs from Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will contest a second successive CAF Champions League final after USM Alger and TP Mazembe qualified Sunday. Mazembe scored three second-half goals to triumph 3-0 at home against Al Merrikh of Sudan in Lubumbashi and won the semi-final 4-2 on aggregate. Tanzanian Mbwana Samata bagged a second-leg brace for the Congolese Ravens before Ivorian Roger Assale completed the scoring in front of a capacity 20,000 Stade Mazembe crowd. USM found another Sudanese outfit, Al Hilal, more stubborn opponents and had to settle for a 0-0 home draw at Stade Omar Hamadi, but progressed 2-1 on aggregate. The final will be played over two legs between October 30 and November 8 with first-time finalists USM enjoying home advantage first over four-time champions Mazembe. Last season, Entente Setif of Algeria edged V Club of DR Congo on the away-goal rule in the Champions League decider after draws in Kinshasa and Blida. At stake in the climax of the marquee African club competition will be a $1.5 million (1.3 million euros) first prize and a place in the FIFA Club World Cup to be hosted by Japan. After a virtually chance-less first half in Lubumbashi, Samata punished slack marking to break the deadlock with a powerful header off a 53rd-minute corner. He scored again on 70 minutes, pushing a low cross past Uganda-born Merrikh goalkeeper Jamal Salim at the near post. Within two minutes, rampant Mazembe struck again with half-time substitute Assale slamming a loose ball into the net after Salim blocked his first scoring attempt. Merrikh had nothing to offer up front with star striker and first-leg match-winner Bakry 'Al Medina' Babiker well policed, and veteran Mazembe goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba was a virtual spectator. It was a sad return to Lubumbashi for Italy-born Merrikh coach Diego Garzitto, who guided Mazembe to the 2009 Champions League title. In the other second leg, the best first-half chance fell to USM first-leg scorer Mohamed Amine Aoudia, who failed to capitalise on a one-on-one with goalkeeper Maxime Loic Feudjeu. Algerian shot-stopper Mohamed Zemmamouche prevented a tense finish with a superb save to foil Abdul Latif Boya five minutes from time USM thought they had snatched a stoppage-time winner, but the South African referee ruled Mohamed Meftah offside. Meftah and Malagasy Carolus Andriamatsinoro -- the only non-Algerian in the USM line-up -- were yellow-carded and miss the first leg of the final.
