Africa-Press – Tanzania. AZAM yesterday set a date with Pyramids of Egypt in the first round of CAF Confederation Cup after seeing off Horseed of Somalia with 4-1 aggregate victory.
Azam, who defeated the Somalian side 3-1 in the first leg match at Azam Complex last weekend, had to sweat yesterday before securing a slim 1-0 victory as Horseed defence played brilliantly to thwart all dangerous moves created by Azam strikers.
Azam have now joined Simba to play in the first round of CAF governed football championship, but Simba will play in the CAF Champions League and their opponents are against Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana.
Young Africans, also placed in CAF Champions League will try their luck today against Rovers United of Nigeria in Port Harcourt.
But it will be a tall order for Jangwani-based outfit as they need to score at least two goals to overcome their 1-0 loss they succumbed at Benjamin Mkapa stadium a week ago.
Under the tutelage of Zambian George Lwandamina, Azam looked more relaxed yesterday, but they kept pushing their Somalia’s opponents in their zone in large part of the first half.
Banking on their speedy strikers such as Salum Abubakar, Paul Katema, Iddi Suleiman Nado, Ismail Kader Aziz, Azam dominated the game in both halves and looked threatening whenever they went close to the goal.
In several occasions of the opening stages, Azam could have scored many goals if they utilised every chance they created.
However, their efforts paid them a few minutes before the breather. It took Azam until the 38th minute to grab their opener through Ismail Kader Aziz who scored the only goal of the game.
The scorer outpaced his markers after he was given a tap in from the team’s skipper Salum Abubakar.
The goal awakened Horseed who began to pile pressure to Azam, but all of their efforts were either saved by goalie Mathias Kigonya or cleared by defenders Lusajo Mwaikenda, Bruce Kangwa and Nicholas Wadada.
Azam have to drill well towards their match against Pyramids as they are among the toughest teams in their line.
Pyramids who currently play in the Egyptian Premier League, play their home matches at the 30 June Stadium in Egypt
They have been doing well in the Egypt League
Their performance in CAF competitions has been very brilliant in the recent years.
Their maiden entry to the CAF governed inter-club tournaments saw them ending in the first round and a year later they reached Play-off round.
A year later Pyramids reached the Quarter-final stage before improving to the semifinal level in their last entry last season.
