John Noble King of the match for Enyimba FC

By Abankula with agency report

Nigeria’s Enyimba FC will know their group opponents today in the CAF Confederation Cup, after knocking out fellow Nigerian team, Rivers United 5-4 on penalties.

Enyimba had won the first leg 1-0. Rivers United also won the second leg at home 1-0.

The winner of the play-off had to be decided on penalties.

While Cyril Olisema missed the first kick for Enyimba, United scored the first two kicks.

They however faltered in the third, when Enyimba’s keeper John Noble saved United defender Kunle Odunlami’s kick.

Enyimba scored the next five penalties.

Noble again stopped United substitute Emmanuel Israel’s kick.

Noble scored his own, wrapping up victory for Enyimba.

The Enyimba team and supporters could not contain their joy as they burst into ‘Oriental style’ celebration of their qualification.

The draw for the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup will be held at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The following teams, apart from Enyimba are through to the group stage after matches were concluded on Sunday in the second-leg, play-off round, played across Africa.

The qualifiers are defending champions RS Berkane of Morocco, Raja Casablanca of Morocco, Pyramids of Egypt, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia, ES Sétif of Algeria, JS Kabylie of Algeria.

Others are Orlando Pirates of South Africa, Coton Sport of Cameroon, Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya, ASC Diaraf of Senegal, NAPSA Stars of Zambia, Salitas of Burkina Faso, Étoile du Sahel, Tunisia, and Nkana of Zambia.

RS Berkane advanced directly to the group stage as the winners of the first round with the best CAF 5-Year Ranking following Gazelle’s withdrawal from the competition after being transferred from the Champions League.

Namungo FC (Tanzania) vs 1º de Agosto, Angola, is postponed.

Here are the second-leg results. First-leg results are in brackets:

Rivers United, Nigeria 1-0 Enyimba, Nigeria (0-1) – Enyimba through on 5-4 penalties.

ASC Diaraf, Senegal 1-0 FC Platinum, Zimbabwe (1-0) – Diaraf through on 2-0 aggregate.

US Monastir, Tunisia 1-0 Raja Casablanca, Morocco (0-1) – Raja qualify on 6-5 penalty shootout.

AS Kigali, Rwanda 1-1 CS Sfaxien, Tunisia (1-4) – Sfaxien qualified on 5-1 aggregate.

TAS Casablanca, Morocco 2-1 Nkana, Zambia (0-2) – Nkana qualify on 3-2 goals aggregate.

NAPSA Stars, Zambia 2-2 Gor Mahia, Kenya (1-0) – NAPSA qualify on 3-2 aggregate.

Salitas, Burkina Faso 3-1 vs AS Bouenguidi, Gabon (0-1) – Salitas qualify on 3-2 aggregate.

ES Sétif, Algeria 0-0 Asante Kotoko, Ghana (2-1) – ES Sétif through qualify on 2-1 aggregate.

Étoile du Sahel, Tunisia walk over Young Buffaloes, Eswatini (2-1) – win by walk over after winning the first leg 2-1.

Coton Sport, Cameroon 1-0 AS SONIDEP, Niger (1-0) – Coton Sport through on 2-0 aggregate.

DC Motema Pembe, DR Congo 1-1 Al Ahly Benghazi, Libya (1-1) – Benghazi through on 8-7 penalty shootout.

JS Kabylie, Algeria 1-0 Stade Malien, Mali (1-2) – JS Kabylie qualify on away goals rule.

Pyramids, Egypt 2-0 RC Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (2-0) – Pyramids advance on 4-0 aggregate win.

Orlando Pirates, South Africa 1-0 Jwaneng Galaxy, Botswana (3-0) – Orlando Pirates through on 4-0 aggregate.