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Dar es Salaam. The hopes of Young Africans (Yanga) to feature in the CAF Champions League semifinals were dashed following the announcement by the African Football governing body of the match referee who will officiate the first leg between Esperance de Tunis and Mamelodi Sundowns.
Yanga penned a letter of complaint to CAF following the disallowed goal scored by Aziz Ki in the 58th minute.
One of the grievances includes the referee, Dehane Beida of Mauritania, disallowing the goal without consulting the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
In the letter, Yanga also complained about the referees’ failure to use VAR technology to resolve the issue.
The Jangwani Street giants believed that under Article XVI, which states that “If fraud is discovered after the start of the following round of the competition, the guilty party and the team shall be eliminated from the competition in favor of its last opponent and will be suspended from all CAF competitions for a period of three years”.
Among other things, Yanga also requested CAF to thoroughly investigate the incident using VAR records and match footage to determine whether there are indications of bias towards Mamelodi Sundowns and requested appropriate action be taken against all involved parties, with strict measures implemented to prevent such incidents in future matches.
However, CAF continued with the match preparations pitting Esperance de Tunis against Mamelodi Sundowns after announcing Somalia’s referee Omar Abdulkadir Arstan to handle the match scheduled to take place at the Stade Hammadi Agrebi in Tunis on April 20.
Maria Rivet from Mauritius will be in charge of the VAR, with Lahlo Behbraham of Algeria serving as the assistant referee.
The move means that Yanga’s plea has been dropped as Mamelodi Sundowns continue with the competition following their 3-2 victories on penalties.
Four teams have emerged as title contenders for the 2023-2024 edition of Africa’s flagship club competition, with South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, Al Ahly of Egypt, DR Congo side TP Mazembe, and Esperance of Tunisia reaching the last four. All four sides, former champions, set the stage for captivating semi-final encounters following the conclusion of the quarter-finals.
In a tense battle that went down to the wire, Sundowns secured their spot in the semi-finals after edging past Young Africans (Yanga) in a penalty shootout.
The defending champions, Al Ahly, demonstrated their dominance with a convincing 3-0 aggregate victory over Simba of Tanzania, ensuring their passage to the next stage.
Esperance secured their place in the last four after defeating ASEC on penalties, while TP Mazembe advanced thanks to their 2-1 aggregate win over Petro Luanda of Angola. The first-leg matches of the semi-finals will be played on the weekend of April 19, 2024, with the second-leg matches scheduled to be played a week later.
The semi-final clashes between the former champions will serve as some thrilling matches as these football powerhouses vie for a coveted spot in the final.
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