2018 CAF Champions League Quarterfinals Preview

E-S-Tunis.com_en · 07-09-2018 17:20

2018 CAF Champions League Quarterfinals Preview

After bowing out of the Arab Club Champions Cup, will Espérance win the 2018 CAF Champions League? That is Ej Garr's bet! (UAFAAC Photo)

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.

... He 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.

Ej Garr - sportskeeda

E-S-Tunis.com_en

Ej Garr · 07-09-2018 21:03

Splendid! Thank you folks for posting my article over here on the site! Looks good, and WHAT A PREDICTION!!
In Bocca Al Lupo! I hope you take the trophy home!!

Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr

ESTfan · 07-09-2018 21:09

I see you got past the "Robot" verification! Well done!

Welcome Ej Garr. We are so happy to have you amongst us!

Tension has recently been building up here... and your article comes as a glimmer of hope and a reminder that we are Espérance !

Thank you very much and... I hope we celebrate the trophy together!

ESTfan, ESTfan, ESTfan, ESTfan

toutou esperance · 07-09-2018 23:05

Ej Garr a écrit :

Splendid! Thank you folks for posting my article over here on the site! Looks good, and WHAT A PREDICTION!!
In Bocca Al Lupo! I hope you take the trophy home!!

How an italian can predict our win after watching our defence !?

Ej Garr · 08-09-2018 03:21

Really toutou? You mean the club that has held 11 clean sheets in their last 19 outings? That sir, is CALLED DEFENSE! You can under-estimate your team all you want sir! I won't make that mistake!

Dernière modification par Ej Garr (08-09-2018 03:23)

Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr

toutou esperance · 08-09-2018 19:29

Ej Garr a écrit :

Really toutou? You mean the club that has held 11 clean sheets in their last 19 outings? That sir, is CALLED DEFENSE! You can under-estimate your team all you want sir! I won't make that mistake!

I'm not under estimating i just watch the games at the stadium then on streaming so i can have an objective vision and i never take a look on statistics.

Anyway i sincerely hope your prediction will be right and welcome to the forum i'm so happy to see that there is some european that dont only watch UCL

toutou esperance

Ej Garr · 08-09-2018 20:07

LOL toutou! Not just UEFA CL and Europa here. I obviously watch all the Italian Leagues and the Coppa. MLS I have followed since the league started in 1996, so I know that league quite well. African football is something I really started getting into after the World Cup in 2010. SO you probably have more knowledge and experience than I do, but I still love it a ton!

Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr

Ej Garr · 13-09-2018 16:52

The Horoya / Al Ahly match is set for tomorrow. Did you all see the Both Teams to Score prop bet is 2.00?
I like a 1 - 1 result to come, although we know Al Ahly is always a threat to keep a clean sheet away from home. They do it plenty in their travels, but Horoya is tough to stop from scoring at least once at home as well. I see 1 - 1 happening, so the Both to Score Prop of Yes is my play for the first QF contest!

Ej Garr

ESTfan · 13-09-2018 17:03

Horoya play good football and are hard to beat at home and away. If QF surprise there will be, it might come from them. They played Espérance last year and gave us two of our toughest games! Ahly are a far more experienced team and have won all their matches since Carteron took over.... An unpredictable QF! I wouldn't mind a big surprise !

ESTfan

Ej Garr · 13-09-2018 17:12

I hear you, because no one wants to face Al Ahly in the finals or semi's LoL Man that club, that history and well, you know the rest. Oh, that other match tomorrow that got moved?
Did anyone else see that total at 2 & 2.5 (2.25 AH) listed at 2.02? It's not out everywhere yet, but it will be soon. I see them both scoring and hitting that Over to be honest. A 2 - 1 type of result in a Setif vs Casablanca match sure does sound obtainable to me!!

Dernière modification par Ej Garr (13-09-2018 17:14)

Ej Garr

Ej Garr · 14-09-2018 01:18

Oh no!! I cannot understand the forum, and when I click English it just takes me back to the main page.
I want to post about the Match coming up for us. We are favoured 1.90 at home for the opening leg. I wish I could speak to everyone here, but I simply do not understand enough to speak to people, I think?

Ej Garr

Toto · 14-09-2018 07:46

Hi,
Forst of all can you introduce yourself please.
Also when you are talkimg about your team, can you specify which one.
Regards

Ej Garr · 14-09-2018 14:50

Introduce myself? Um, interesting. I am Ej, and I guess you didn't read anything in the article or the comments.
I am Ej. There you go!

ESTfan · 14-09-2018 16:11

Ej Garr a écrit :

Oh no!! I cannot understand the forum, and when I click English it just takes me back to the main page.

We have three main pages in three languages (Arabic, French and English). The French version of the website has so far been the main one and the oldest of the three. The Arabic and English versions are relatively recent. The Forum, on the other hand, is mainly in French. But there is the possibility of starting discussions in English, or other languages, as is the case with the press review (in the above 3 languages) and the discussions you started in English.

I want to post about the Match coming up for us. We are favoured 1.90 at home for the opening leg. I wish I could speak to everyone here, but I simply do not understand enough to speak to people, I think?

Insofar as the next match is concerned, we have these two discussions for both legs of the quaterfinal:
First leg: [CL 2018 - 1/4 aller] EST - ESS; le samedi 15 septembre à 20h00
Second leg: [CL 2018 - 1/4 retour] ESS - EST; le vendredi 21 septembre à 17h00

Forza Espérance !

Ej Garr · 14-09-2018 16:40

That I figured out my friend, it was understanding the words in the thread that I missed LOL
I simply couldn't tell if 1) Anyone would understand me in that thread
2) If I was posting in the right place, or …
3) Why I click on English it just takes me all the way back to the main page instead of translating for me.

My next trick will be learning Arabic I guess, Damnit I just learned my own language and Italian, so I guess I better get to work LoL

Thank you for posting the links to each thread though, at least I was in the right spot, but yes, me no comprende your language enough yet to even respond to someone if they don't speak English or Italian.

Ej Garr · 14-09-2018 16:44

and no, Polly Voo Francia... Not going to even start talking French to anyone ever in my life, so uh, Wee Wee and Walla! HA!

Toto · 14-09-2018 17:13

Ej Garr a écrit :

Introduce myself? Um, interesting. I am Ej, and I guess you didn't read anything in the article or the comments.
I am Ej. There you go!

Absolutely right.
Sorry to bother.
Regards

Ej Garr · 14-09-2018 17:23

Oh no please do not apologize. I am new here for sure, and you all have been so welcoming since I got here.

So the question threw me off a little. I mean I am that guy... the one who wrote the piece that your admin posted here. I asked if it was okay if I hang out around here, and he said it is okay.

Anyway, Yes I am Ej, nice to meet you and no bother at all sir!

Ej Garr, Ej Garr

Toto · 14-09-2018 18:35

Not a problem.
You are the most welcome.
Regards

Toto, Toto

Ej Garr · 15-09-2018 22:03

Esperance Tunis - Etoile Sahel 1X2
Esperance Team 1 @ 1.91 - Win

Is that just lovely! The only bet I made today was a good one because of the faith!! I posted that the lines were available in a previous post, so I hope you were all on the same page. Big second leg coming now!!

Ej Garr

Ej Garr · 21-09-2018 19:02

YES!!!!!
Final Four baby!!
What a result today, and a CLEAN SHEET to boot!

Now that's how we roll!!

Ej Garr

Ej Garr · 21-09-2018 19:17

If Esperance win this thing, I am going to have to find someone to ship me a #10 Team Jersey to go with my collection of #10 jersey's I have. And if they … well let's not bother saying that, because I want one anyway!

Ej Garr

Ej Garr · 23-10-2018 19:13

E-S-Tunis.com_en a écrit :

2018 CAF Champions League Quarterfinals Preview
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.
Ej Garr - sportskeeda

Finals!! Is this really happening? I LIKE IT!!

Ej Garr · 09-11-2018 22:07

CHAMPIONS! Okay then, at least I CAN SAY I CALLED IT all the way back when the Quarterfinals began!

BOOM!!

Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr, Ej Garr

ESTfan · 09-11-2018 23:30

Ej Garr a écrit :

If Esperance win this thing, I am going to have to find someone to ship me a #10 Team Jersey to go with my collection of #10 jersey's I have. And if they … well let's not bother saying that, because I want one anyway!

لولاد

هذا ضيفنا من الربع النهائي كان توقع فوز الترجي من الأول في مقال نشرناهولو على الموقع

وقتها طلب هدية مريول الترجي نومرو 10 إذا الترجي تربح رابطة الأبطال

آش قولكم

ESTfan, ESTfan, ESTfan

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