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The 2018 CAF Champions League quarterfinals are set to get underway on September 14.
As the group stages came to a conclusion on August 28, the eight remaining clubs learned who they would face in the quarterfinals on September 3. The draw was held at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, seeding the four first-place clubs against the four second-place clubs.
As it turns out, Al-Ahly, who won group A with 13 points, will now be taking on Horoya who finished second in group C. Their two-legged knockout stage tie will kick off on September 14 at Horoya, with the return leg being played at Al Salam Stadium on September 21 or 22.
TP Mazembe took top spot in group B, and they will be facing 1º de Agosto who took second place in group D. The two will meet at Estádio 11 de Novembro for the first leg of their quarterfinal tie on September 15. Primeiro de Agosto's new stadium will finally be ready next year when the seven-year construction is finished. The second leg between the clubs will play out on September 21 or 22.
You will notice that I keep saying 21 or 22. That is because those dates are not set in stone yet, but we will know the exact dates after the first legs are played.
Wydad Casablanca came away with the top spot from group C, and they'll face ES Sétif in the knockout round. Sétif were tied on 5 points with El Jadidi going into the final day of group B play, and escaped with the second spot with their 2-1 win over Alger. Setif will host the first leg of their QF tie at Stade 8 Mai 1945 on September 15, returning to Stade Mohammed V for the second leg on September 21 or 22.
The last pairing of the CAF quarterfinals will feature group D winner Étoile du Sahel and group A second-place finisher Espérance. Al-Alhy and Espérance were tied at 10 points when they entered the final round of group stage play. Espérance settled for a draw against the last place club Township Rollers, leaving them with the second spot from the group as El-Alhy took all three points over KCCA to take top honors in group A.
Espérance will host Sahel for the first leg of their tie at Stade Olympique de Radès on September 15. The return leg will be played at Stade Olympique de Sousse at Sahel's grounds on September 21 or 22.
We normally see a couple of clubs advance to the quarterfinals who started back in the preliminary round of the tournament. This year, four clubs started in the first stage of the event and have navigated their way this far. Setif, Horoya, Esperance and 1º de Agosto all started in the opening round of qualifying, and are still around to fight in the quarterfinals.
Two of the last five winners of the event have started back in the preliminary round. Amazingly, the way the CAF Champions League tournament has played out, all four of them could end up in the semifinals to play each other.
Ben Malango of TP Mazembe is the active leading goal scorer in the competition with 7 goals. His hat-trick in the first round of qualifying against Sondo helped to lift Mazembe to the group stage. In fact, that Mazembe vs Songo tie in that first round was quite a battle. Malango's hat-trick propelled Mazembe to a 4-0 in the first leg of their tie with Songo. Songo made every effort to pull off the comeback, but fell short, winning the return leg 3-0 (4-3 Aggregate to Mazembe).
TP Mazembe ended up with the #1 seed in POT 1 as the group stage was revealed and, as I mentioned, they came away with the top spot in group B.
One of my favorite players in Africa is Jacques Bitumba, who plays for 1º de Agosto. Despite only scoring once in the group stage, his goal in the final game against the Swallows set the pace for their 2-1 win. He did, however, score three of the team's 5 goals in the preliminary round of qualifying.
... [H]e scored against the Swallows to make it 1-0. After all those deflections and headers, his use of the noggin was ultimately what put the ball in the back of the net.
Jacques scored 8 goals during the 2018 Girabola campaign that just ended on September 2. 1º de Agosto took the top spot in the table for the third consecutive season, after taking the domestic treble in 2017. None of their success has carried over to CAF Champions League, as they have never won the title in 10 attempts.
De Agosto's QF tie with Mazembe features two league winners, in fact. Mazembe has taken the last two Linafoot titles out of DR Congo, and has 5 Champions League trophies sitting in their showcase. Their most recent C.L title came in 2015 with a little help from Mbwana Samatta, who is now playing in Belgium's first division with Genk. That 2015 win for Mezembe was so prolific, as they simply handed out trashings, thumping everyone lined up across the pitch, right through the Championship game.
Horoya are also champions in their domestic league, Guinée Championnat National, where they have won the last three campaigns. That's all well and good, but it will not come close to the football history of their opponent in the quarterfinals. Al Ahly is arguably the best team on the African continent. Not only are they 40-time winners of their domestic Egyptian league, but they have 16 Cairo League wins from 1924 to 1958. Ready for more?
Egypt Cups: 36 titles -- which doesn't even include the 18 other domestic cup wins.
CAF Champions League titles: 8
Throw in the 4 African Winners' Cups, the 6 CAF Super Cups, and the handful of Arab Cups they have won. Not too shabby, to say the least!
Back in July, Al Ahly was only two positions behind Premier League club Everton. Everton finished 7th in the EPL table a campaign ago, which plenty of people regard as the best league in the world. I will debate that with someone, because well, coefficient rankings say otherwise and those are made for a reason. That's another argument for another day.
Wydad Casablanca are the defending Champions of this event, and they have been on quite a run for the last four years. They have finished first or second in their domestic Moroccan league Botola over that stretch, and Ismail Haddad is the man to watch out for. He was instrumental in their run to the title last year, and he has five goals so far to his credit in this tournament.
Their opponent, ES Sétif, took the 2014 Champions League trophy home, although it was only their second win of the event, with their other title run coming in 1998.
Espérance Sportive de Tunis has won 13 of the last 18 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 titles, and 28 overall league wins. Overall they have 28 league titles, which is 15 more than the closest competition from their domestic league in Tunisia. They've won the Champions League title twice in their history, the most recent coming in 2011.
Espérance will square off with Étoile Sportive du Sahel in the quarterfinals. As you can see, they both partake in Tunisia's first division of football, and they know each other quite well. The two have met 43 times since the turn of the century, although Sahel is 0-3-3 vs Espérance over the last 6 meetings.
All right, well there is your history of the teams and some players to watch for.
Who wins the CAF Champions League tournament this time around? My call is Espérance Sportive de Tunis to win the tournament for the first time since 2011. Even though I am Italian and I say Esperienza when referring to experience, I see Esperance as the club with experience and hunger to get that trophy back. I look forward to all four ties in this year's CAF Champions League, and next year it will not be the same tournament.
Coming this November, the new format of CAF Champions League will be starting, as the dates are all being moved. The 2018-19 CAF Champions League tournament will begin in November and run through May, which is a complete modification of how it has been the last few years. Until we get there, we have 8 clubs left fighting for this trophy.