4 contenders to succeed FUS of Rabat

The last two winners of the Orange Confederation Cup were outsiders; Stade Malien in 2009 and FUS of Rabat in 2010. And since Fus is not in this competition so a new winner will be crowned. Amongst this year’s outsider is Nigeria’ Sunshine Stars of Akure who are making their first continental appearance and have performed well so far. The other three contenders are also little known. Club Africain is the only club of the four to have attained won the competition before and that was in 1991. The Tunisian club won the Clubs Champions Cup by beating Nakivubo Villa of Uganda (6-2, 1-1). The team possessed international players such as Adel Sellimi and Faouzi Rouissi. Meanwhile, Majid Musisi was the most popular Ugandan player. Club Africain then ceded first place in national championship football to Esperance, Etoile du Sahel and CS Sfaxien. Tunisian clubs have, however, since been dominating club competitions. Before this year’s edition, Interclube of Luanda have appeared in the group stage of the Orange Confederation Cup in 2006 and 2008. The Angolan side has gone further this time by reaching the semi-finals. Moghreb of Fes, who have not been in such a position before but  made a promising step in the Moroccan championship, recording three successive wins which propelled them to the top of the national competition. On its part, Sunshine Stars is sharing the leading position of their championship with the Dolphins of Port Harcourt, four days to the end of the competition. The four qualified teams have up to now been defensively strong. The Moroccans have conceded two goals in six games, the Nigerian and Tunisian clubs have conceded three each while the Angolan side conceded a goal each match. The Moroccan duo, Hamza Abourazzouk and Tarik Sektioui, with five goals each, are the leading scorers in the competition so far. Ibrahim Ajani of Nigeria follows with four goals. The attackers have, nonetheless, been unable to raid the defense of rival teams. This leads to the conclusion that, with the solid defense and the less prolific attackers, not much will be recorded on the scoreboard. In the preceding stage, Club Africain got four away points while its rival, Sunshine Stars, got seven out of nine points having recorded a draw against MAS of Fes. Interclube registered maximum points at home while MAS of Fes got five away points. After the championship phase, here comes direct elimination. Things have changed and there isn’t room for errors.