Simba out of CAF Champions League after losing to Wydad on penalties
Simba's Congolese defender Henock Inonga Baka (R) fights for the ball with Wydad's Senegalese forward Sambou Junior during the CAF Champions League quarter-final football match between Wydad AC and Simba SC at Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca on April 28, 2023. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- It was a heartbreaking exit for Simba, who had been given little chance of success after being paired with the three-time African champions
Tanzania’s envoys in the African Champions League, Simba SC, are out after losing to Wydad on penalties, 4-3. Simba finished 90 minutes trailing by 1-0, which levelled the tie after an aggregate 1-1 draw in two quarterfinal matches.
It was stand-in Wydad Casablanca goalkeeper Youssef el Motie who starred as the CAF Champions League title-holders scraped into the semi-finals with a 4-3 victory on penalties over Simba.
Backed by a passionate 45,000 sell-out crowd at the Stade Mohammed V, the Moroccan outfit won the quarter-final second leg 1-0 thanks to a 24th-minute goal from Senegalese Bouly Sambou.
The result in Casablanca levelled the aggregate score at 1-1 after Simba had built a 1-0 lead following the first leg in Dar es Salaam last weekend.
El Motie, deputising for injured Ahmed Tagnaouti, saved the third and fifth Simba spot kicks taken by Shomari Kapombe and Zambian Clatous Chama, while Wydad converted the four they took.
It was a heartbreaking exit for Simba, who had been given little chance of success after being paired with the three-time African champions.
Victory for Wydad means a seventh semi-finals appearance since 2016 in the premier African club competition -- a remarkable record of consistency.
They will face Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa or Chabab Belouizdad of Algeria in the semi-finals in May, with the Pretoria outfit their likely opponents.
Sundowns hold a 4-1 lead when they host Belouizdad in one of three quarter-final second legs scheduled for Saturday.
The Moroccans forced two corners in quick succession midway through the first half, and the only goal of the return match stemmed from the second set-piece.
As the ball landed in the penalty area, Sambou nodded weakly goalward, but Simba’s goalkeeper Ally Khatoro surprisingly failed to stop the ball from landing in the corner of the net.
If the shot-stopper must take the blame for the goal, he brilliantly tipped over a much more powerful Sambou header soon after.
Sambou appealed for a penalty in first-half added time, but the referee waved play on after a VAR review.
Wydad wasted a great chance to go two goals ahead on the night early in the second half when unmarked Ayman el Hassouni swept a cross over.
The VAR officials then became busy, cancelling a Wydad goal as El Hassouni was offside and rejecting another penalty appeal by the hosts, this time from Saifeddine Bouhra.
Simba were awarded a free-kick in front of goal midway through the half, but Sambou deflected the kick from Chama at the expense of a corner. As full-time approached, neither side came close to scoring.
