Tout Puissant Mazembe of Democratic Republic of Congo bridged a 41-year gap on Saturday by regaining the African Champions League title. But it was a close call before a sell-out 35,000 crowd in Lubumbashi with Mazembe defeating Heartland of Nigeria 1-0 to collect the record 1.5 million dollars first prize on away goals.
It was the first time in the 44-year history of the premier African Football Confederation club competition that the away-goal rule was needed to decide the outcome of a final. Heartland took a 2-1 lead into the second leg of the final and held out for 74 minutes before Victor Ezuruike conceded an own goal to bring the trophy back to southern Congo.
Mazembe won the fledgling African championship in 1967 and 1968 and this year they budgeted five million dollars to try and lift a trophy that symbolises continental club supremacy. Part of the money was spent on importing 59-year-old French coach Diego Garzitto and his pre-match prediction that the crowd packed into the Kenya Stadium would drive the Congolese 'Crows' to success came true.
Apart from the financial windfall, Mazembe qualify for the end-of-year FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates with Spanish giants Barcelona among possible opponents. The home team dominated possession in both halves against ultra-cautious Heartland, who suffered a huge blow on 55 minutes when outstanding goalkeeper Austin Brown retired injured.
Ikechukwu Ezenwa took his place and thwarted the rampant Congolese several times before Ezuruike headed into his own net as the pressure on the Nigerian defence became unbearable. Heartland frustrations boiled over in stoppage time when star striker Emeka Nwanna - on the wanted list of Egyptian club Ismailia - was shown a red card by the Algerian referee for a dangerous tackle.
The expulsion followed first-half cautions for Ezuruike and Orji Okagbue as the 1988 runners-up resorted to desperate measures while Mazembe sought the goal that would bring the cup back to the copper mining city.
ThankGod Ike was a hero for the visitors, marking Mazembe first-leg scorer Mabi Mputu tightly and raising hopes that Heartland could become the second champions from Nigeria after 2003 and 2004 winners Enyimba. Mazembe defeated Petro Atletico of Angola and Al-Ittihad Khemisset of Morocco in qualifiers, Heartland, Monomotapa of Zimbabwe and Etoile Sahel of Tunisia to win Group B, and Al-Hilal of Sudan in the semi-finals.
Comments
Comments are closed.