While Dynamos were mourning their demise in the Caf Orange Champions League, their former son Edward Sadomba was celebrating after leading his Sudanese side to a 4-1 aggregate win over Recreativo de Cala of Angola.
The Sudanese had taken a 3-0 lead their fortress in Omdurman and were 1-0 down after 28 minutes in Huambo after Paizinho had hit the nets.
But Sadomba, according to reports, struck the crucial away goal in the 75th minute and they held on for the last quarter to record a 4-1 aggregate win to reach the second round of the continental competition.
Al-Hilal restored pride for Sudanese football after the elimination of Al Merreikh and al-nil al-Hasahisa from the African competitions, while Zimbabwe are left with no representatives after Motor Action were knocked out by Asec Mimosas of Ivory Coast two weeks ago.
Dynamos had no such opportunity in Algeria against MC Alger as they fell 3-0 in the second leg to a well knit North African scheme.
Seeing that it might be difficult to win fairly on the field of play, the Confederation of African Football, in a plot that started two weeks ago, had Egyptian referees for the tie who played a “blinder” in the second half.
The penalty was always going to come and the red cards were inevitable from the North African official.
Caf can easily defend themselves by saying for the first leg that Dynamos was at home, a Southern African referee was in charge, so why complain?
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According to reports, the Algerians looked like they had a tall order to stay in the competition and it was not until the 43 minute that they opened their account through Bedbouda.
Dynamos were holding on for the greater part of the match with MC probing attacks failing to add to their tally.
The balanced match then turned on it’s head in the 73rd minute when MC’s Douadi was adjudged to have been impeded as he headed wide and a penalty awarded to the Algerians.
Dynamos not only conceded the penalty which was converted by Mokdad but had Archford Gutu sent off for the incident.
Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa made changes to shore up the defensive aspect of his side while his counterpart Zekri put in an additional striker as his side went in search for the decisive third goal.
It got worse for Dynamos when defender Guthrie Zhokinyi got a red card leaving the visitors with nine men.
Deep into the need of the game Bedbouda grabbed his second goal and more importantly the crucial third for MC to level the score on aggregate. Bedbouda beat Arubi from close range inside the box to bring frenzy celebrations in the stands while Dynamos looked dejected and could hardly believe it all.
MC’s consolation goal from the penalty spot converted by their captain Babouche two weeks ago in Harare proved vital to the Algerian team and pulled them through to the next round.
