Prime
Jamal, Onyango delight in away clean sheets
Denis Onyango, Photo by John Batanudde
The absence of a festive break for Ugandan Cranes’ duo Salim Jamal and Denis Onyango paid off as their respective clubs reaped pivotal wins in the Total Caf Champions League at the weekend.
Both goalkeepers registered clean sheets on Match Day 3 of the tournament group stages away in North Africa on Saturday. First, Jamal helped Sudanese club Al-Hilal pick vital three points in Group B after defeating Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel 1-0 at the Stade Olympique in Radès.
“It was a very difficult tie,” remarked Jamal, who faced 14 shots (five on target) from the 2007 winners on the evening.
“Clean sheet is enough, this is a very big win,” said the former Al-Merriekh player after his fourth clean sheet in six matches on the continent this season.
Against the run of play, two-time Champions League finalists Hilal led in the 59th minute when Athar El Tahir’s low shot outside the area went past two defenders to beat Etoile’s custodian Achraf Krir.
Etoile lacked the clinical finishing to trouble Jamal in the final stages. The result left both teams on six points apiece with Hilal second and Etoile third by virtue of head-to-head record.
The two sides are also on level but behind record eight-time champions Al Ahly who defeated Zimbabwe’s FC Platinum 2-0 thanks to Walid Soliman’s brace in Cairo. In Group C, Cranes’ skipper Onyango produced two crucial first-half stops before his stand-out friend and captain Hlompho Kekana struck the winner at the hour mark to defeat USM Alger in Blida.
Ever jolly Kekana marked his 300th appearance for Sundowns by tucking the ball into the net when a back pass from a defender did not reach Alger’s goal keeper Lamine Zemmamouche.
This is a second straight clean sheet for Onyango in North Africa they held Wydad Casablanca to a goalless draw on December 7. Sundowns is now top of the Group C table with seven points while Wydad, who won 4-1 courtesy of Ayoub El Kaabi’s hat-trick, are second on five points.
Other Ugandans like Joseph Ochaya did not feature but DR Congo’s TP Mazembe played out a 1-all draw away to Angola’s Primeiro de Agosto on Friday.
Still in Group A, Zesco United, who have Ugandan forward Umaru Kasumba, played out a similar score-line with Egypt’s Zamalek in Ndola on Saturday.
