Cape Town City and Royal AM advance in CAF competitions

Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler

Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

Published Sep 18, 2022

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Cape Town City advanced to the next round of CAF Champions League qualification as they held on for a goalless stalemate against AS Otoho, winning the contest 2-0 on aggregate.

The Citizens faced a daunting 90 minutes in the heart of the Republic of Congo.

City coach Eric Tinkler played a defensive team as he lined them up in a 5-4-1 formation looking to protect their good work from the home leg.

The brightest spark at the Cape Town-based club this season has been the growing bond between attackers Khanyisa Mayo and Darwin Gonzalez but both of them began on the bench in this encounter as City invited pressure onto themselves.

The home side almost got off to the perfect as City goalkeeper Darren Keet had to pull off a great stop when face-to-face with a striker in the 26th minute.

The big shot-stopper stood tall and produced a brilliant save to keep the two sides level on the day.

Even with their defensive mindset City still launched some attacking forays and midfielder Thabo Nodada was unlucky to not score when his effort rebounded off the crossbar two minutes before half-time.

City goalkeeper Keet found himself in the book as he lost his temper trying to get back his water bottle, that was removed from the goalposts by the opposition, back.

The controversy did not end there as the home side were awarded a dubious penalty deep into stoppage-time, however the effort was dragged wide, handing City qualification into the next round.

On the CAF Confederations Cup front, Royal AM FC, the only South African team in the competition, took huge steps in their quest for continental glory as they dispatched Eswatini's Mbabane Highlanders at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Thwihli Thwahla progressed to the next round of preliminary qualification thanks to a goal in either half from Elias Pelembe and then Ruzaigh Gamildien to ensure the fixture ended 2-0 on aggregate.

The KwaZulu-Natal-based club will look to garner as much experience as possible in their debut season on the continental stage and their next opponents in Zesco United are arguably as difficult as it gets in the competition.

@ScribeSmiso

IOL Sport