CECAFA Nile Basin Tourney Reaches Quarter Finals, Mbeya City In…!

THE quarter final pairings were decided on Wednesday night after end of the Nile Basin Cup group matches at the Khartoum Stadium and Shandi City. CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye officially announced the pairings this Thursday morning and congratulated the successful 8 clubs.
AFC Leopards beat AcademieTchite of Burundi 1-0 to top Group ‘B’ and Al AhliShandi won 2-0 over Defence of Ethiopia to rule Group ‘C’. The 0-0 draw between Etincelles of Rwanda and Mbeya City of Tanzania Mainland had the Rwandese eliminated.
The Leopards’ performance pleased group of very vocal supporters, mainly Kenyan university students in Sudan. The Kenyan Ambassador to Sudan, AbrownSuge, his deputy Maurice Nakitare and a group of their staff were at the stadium cheering the team.
The quarter finals are, therefore:
Goalie Musalia starts for AFC Leopards
Coach Pieter HendrikDe Jong shuffled his team bringing in three players who had not started in the previous two matches. He said at pre-match that his intention was to win every match at the Nile Basin Cup.
On Wednesday night, they won 1-0, substitute Bernard Mang’oli striking in the 83rd minute to overpower AcademieTchite of Burundi in the last Group ‘B’ match at Khartoum Stadium on Wednesday night.
De Jongh started with new ‘keeper Martin Musalia and midfielders Charles Okwemba and Oscar Kadenge saying: “A changed team, yes, but all the players bring in their qualities. We are not letting up and we would like everyone to perform at his best.”
Well studied substitutions
AcademieTchitewere stubborn especially throughout the first half but De Jongh seemed to have studied them well and his substitutions made the Kenyans more efficient in the second period.
When central defender Jackson Saleh was taken off, Martin Imbalambala slotted back into his role while Joseph Shikokoti came in at in front of the back four. The midfield began operating differently when Noah Wafula came in for Paul Were and Bernard Mang’oli for Charles Okwemba to partner the indefatigable Musa Mudde.
Al AhliShandi beat Defence of Ethiopia 2-0 and topped Group ‘C’ that was based in Shadi City; two and a half hours drive North West of Khartoum. Finishing second, Defence became Leopards’ quarter final opponents.
AFC, Defence in second battle
Interestingly Leopards and Defence met earlier this year in the first round of the CAF [African Football Confederation] Confed Cup. Leopards eliminated Defence.
But Leopards may be a slightly changed side and should be wary when they clash with Defence as the Kenyans do not have four of their top players who were left in Nairobi for national team duty; namely goalie Wycliffe Kasaya, defender James Situma and forwards Jacob Keli and Allan Wanga.
Etincelles misses crucial penalty
Etincelles failed to win this match, their only chance to qualify if they had won with a large margin and if AcademieTchite had been thumped by AFC Leopards in the last Group ‘B’ matches on Wednesday.
The draw thus put Mbeya City through as the No. 2 team to AFC Leopards and Etincelles going home when AcademieTchite held on to their third place. It was a frustrating evening for Etincelles who even missed a penalty in the second half.
Scorers: AFC Leopards: [Bernard Mang’oli, 83’]
Defence:[Nadir Eltyab, 7’ pen; & Omar Mohamoud, 61’]
Results
Etincelles (0) VsMbeya City (0)
AFC Leopards (1) Vs AcademieTchite (0)
Defence (0) Vs Al AhliShandi (2)

Quarter final pairings
AFC Leopards [Kenya] VS Defence [Ethiopia]
Al Merreikh [Sudan] VS AcademieTchite [Burundi]
SC Victoria University [Uganda] VS Mbeya City [Tanzania]
Al AhliShandi [Sudan] VS Malakia [South Sudan]