MAS clinch Caf Confederation Cup
Morocco’s Maghreb de Fes beat Club Africain 6-5 on penalties after aggregate scores stood at 1-1 to clinch this year’s Caf Confederation Cup on Sunday night.
MAS goalkeeper Anas Zniti was the cup hero when he saved against Zied Ziadi in sudden death penalty, before he tucked away his own spot kick to give his club a first-ever continental title.
It was a case of history repeating itself as another Moroccan club, FUS Rabat beat Etoile du Sahel from Tunisia in last year’s final.
Maghreb de Fes took the first half of the second leg final to get back on even terms with Club Africain, who had won their first clash in Tunis 1-0 a fortnight ago.
MAS, or ‘The Fatal Tigers’ as they are called by their fans, deserved their first half lead after they continued to attack their visitors right from the blast of the first whistle.
The Moroccans appeared to have taken the lead on 36 minutes after Diop’s cracking shot came off the underside of the crossbar with television replays showing that it had crossed the goalline.
However, Senegalese referee Diatta Badara, who incidentally the Tunisians had formally protested his appointment to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), disallowed this effort apparently for an infringement leading to this goal.
But there was no doubting the effort of Malian forward Moussa Tigana later in the first half.
Tigana fired the home team ahead three minutes into additional time in the first half after he steered home the ball from inside the box with goalkeeper Ben Ayoub out of position.
Chadian striker Ezechel Ndouassel saw red in the 59th minute for his tackle on a Moroccan player after he had earlier been booked in the first half.
However, the hosts failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority in a second half that was not as exciting as the first 45 minutes.
Instead, Club Africain became more adventurous with skipper Zouhaier Daouadi leading the troops by example.
As winners of the Confederation Cup, the modest MAS will pocket a total of $660,000 and battle Esperance in a prestigious Caf Super Cup early in the New Year.