South African clubs Mamelodi Sundowns and Amazulu booked their places in this season’s CAF Champions League group stage following victories over their respective opponents in the preliminary round second legs on the weekend.
Sundowns produced a spectacular performance and went past DR Congo’s AS Maniema Union at 2-0 Loftus Versfeld Stadium with goals from Lyle Lakay and Peter Shalulile. As a result the PSL champions progressed to the group stage with a 5-1 aggregate win.
Meanwhile, Amazulu surprised everyone with another historic qualification over TP Mazembe, after playing to a 1-1 draw with the Congolese giants in Kinshasa and knocked them out on away goals rule.
The two clubs join five-time winners Zamalek of Egypt which was the first club to qualify for the last 16 after eliminating Tusker FC of Kenya 5-0 on aggregate.
Defending champions Al Ahly also secured their seat in the group stages, after hammering Niger’s US Gendarmerie Nationale (USGN) 6-1 in Cairo for a 7-2 aggregate victory.
Despite a 2-0 first leg defeat to Simba, Jwaneng Galaxy booked their ticket to the group stage after they claimed a 3-1 win in the second leg, whereas Sudanese side Al Merreikh sealed qualification from Rivers United of Algeria with a 2-1 aggregate.
CAF Round of 16 teams:
Al Ahly SC (Egypt), Al Hilal, Al Merrikh (Sudan), Amazulu FC (South Africa), CR Belouizdad (Algeria), ES Tunis, E.S.S., (Tunisia), ES Setif (Algeria), Horoya AC (Guinea), Jwaneng Galaxy( Botswana), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Atletico Petroleos (Angola) ,Raja CA (Morocco), GD Sagrada (Angola),Esperance (Tunisia), Wydad AC (Morocco) ,Zamalek SC (Egypt).
