JS Kabylie maintained their unbeaten run despite being held to a goalless draw with CAF Confederation Cup defending champions RS Berkane in a tense Group B match played at 1 November 1954 Stadium in Tizi Ouzou.
In Group D, Pyramids were compounded with another loss to Raja Casablanca, this time an embarrassing 3-0 home defeat that sent the Moroccans through to the last eight.
In Algeria, host ES Setif earned revenge against Enyimba International of Nigeria beating them 3-0 in a Group A match played at 8 May 1945 Stadium.
The stalemate at Tizi Ouzou placed Berkane at a brink of elimination as they remained third with five points with just two matches remaining while Kabylie maintained second place on the log.
Mohamed Benchaira threatened in the second minute with his left foot shot that rattled the cross bar before squandering a glorious chance from Rezki Hamroune through pass to allow Berkane keeper, Zouhair Laaroubi easily pick the ball.
Zaka then missed the target after Bencharia put him through while on the other end Berkane’s only chance came at the half hour mark when former ASEC Mimosas winger Djibril Ouattara fed Youssef Zghoudi but Bencherifa rescued the host with a cleaver tackle on the latter.
On the stroke of half-time, Laaroubi made a brilliant dive save to deny Badreddine Souyad right shot in a one-on-one situation.
The last half was more tensed with both sides resulting to play hard but still neither Bencaria a nor Zaka’s effort could change the difference for the Algerians not even Berkane’s Glody Kilangalanga cracker that was stopped by Kabylie keeper, Oussama Benbot.
Full results:
Cotonsport 5-1 NAPSA Stars
Nkana FC 1-0 Namungo
Orlando Pirates 3-0 Al Ahli Benghazi
CS Sfaxien 2-2 Etoile du Sahel
ES Setif 3-0 Enyimba
JS Kabylie 0-0 RS Berkane
Pyramids FC 0-3 Raja Casablanca
Photo credit:BackpagePix
