CAIRO — Title holders MAS Fes of Morocco had four players sent off as they crashed out of the Caf Confederation football Cup in the third round this weekend.
Athletic Club Leopards of Congo Brazzaville triumphed 2-0 at home in a fiery clash that lasted 120 minutes, to overturn a one-goal away defeat and secure a place in the mini-league phase of the second-tier Caf club competition.
MAS, who defeated Club Africain of Tunisia in a penalty shootout last year to become the third Moroccan winners of the Cup, had midfielder Rachid Dahmani red carded before falling behind to a 40th-minute Diabole goal.
The Angolan referee sent off defenders Omar Ennamsaoui and Said Hammouni in the final minute of regular time and another defender, Younes Lyousfi, six minutes into stoppage time. MAS kept the Leopards at bay with seven men until the 110th minute when Diallo fired a penalty past goalkeeper Anas Zniti to seal a passage into the last eight for the Congolese.
It was another prized scalp for the Leopards from western city Dolisie, who overcame a first-round home loss to two-time Confederation Cup winners CSS of Tunisia by winning 2-0 in Mediterranean city Sfax.
The Congolese also eliminated Tempete Mocaf of the Central African Republic and Heartland of Nigeria in other qualifiers en route to the group phase, where qualifiers earn at least $165 000 in prize money.
Black Leopards of South Africa, another team who exceeded expectations by making the third round, were held 0-0 at home by 2007 runners-up Al Merreikh from Sudan and bowed out having lost 3-2 in Omdurman two weeks ago.
While the club based in the northern city of Polokwane comfortably contained Sudanese attempts to score, they also lacked a cutting edge at chilly Ellis Park in Johannesburg and rarely troubled goalkeeper Akram El Hadi.
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Al Hilal, the great domestic rivals of Merreikh, also advanced with a 1-0 win over Cercle Bamako in Mali through a first-half goal from Mudathir Eltaib after taking a two-goal advantage into the return match.
A couple of other Malian clubs did survive with Stade Malien holding COD Meknes 1-1 in Morocco to advance 4-1 on aggregate and Djoliba squeezing through on penalties after a 2-0 loss to Club Africain in Tunis.
Abdelali Essamlali offered Meknes a glimmer of hope with a goal after 21 minutes, but Lamine Diawara levelled before halftime for 2009 title holders Stade Malien.
Hamzi Agrebi put Africain ahead during the first half at the Olympic Stadium and Haj Massaoud scored a tie-levelling second goal from a spot-kick seven minutes into stoppage time before Djoliba won 4-3 in the shootout.
