Luanda — Two out of the four Angolan teams participating in the African competitions in their initial games in the current Cup played last weekend, in various stadiums across the continent, had positive results, namely victories at home and away.
Petro de Luanda, the national champions, defeated Cercle de Joachim SC of Mauritius 3-0 on Saturday. The game part of the Champions League was played at the National Stadium Complex Sports Pitch 1 (New George V),
The club, led by the Spanish coach Franc Artiga, had goals scored by Benny, Tiago Reis and Matheus Costa. They will play again next Saturday, for the second leg at the 11 de Novembro Stadium in Luanda.
Historically, Petro de Luanda failed in the group stage of the 2024-25 edition, after a 1-2 defeat at the Joseph Kabila stadium and a goalless draw at 11 de Novembro stadium against AS Maniema from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who are coached by the Portuguese Ricardo Chéu.
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Under Alexandre Santos' leadership, in the 2023-2024 season, the team topped Group C with 12 points, followed by Espérance de Tunis with 11 points, Al-Hilal Omdurman (5 points), and Étoile du Sahel (4 points).
They were eliminated in the quarterfinals by TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the first leg ending in a goalless draw in Lubumbashi and the second leg game they lost 1-2 in Luanda.
Petro de Luanda have 14 Champions League appearances and is currently the highest-ranked Angolan club in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) rankings, occupying 17th place.
In this competition, the best performance of Petro de Luanda came in the semifinals in 2001, against Al-Ahly of Egypt, and in 2022, against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.
Last Friday (19), in the same competition, Wiliete of Benguela, debuting in CAF competitions, lost 0-3 to Young Africans of Tanzania at the 11 de Novembro Stadium in the country's capital. They are playing away from home due to renovation works at the Ombaka Stadium, in the province of Benguela,
Aziz Andabwile, Edmund John and Prince Dube scored for Young Africans of Tanzania.
The two teams will meet again in the second leg game on the 27th at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium at 3:00 pm.
In the Confederations Cup, also known as the "Nelson Mandela Cup," Kabuscorp do Palanca beat South Africa's Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 at the same stadium in the Angolan capital, with a goal from striker Júlio.
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The return leg is scheduled on Saturday at the FNB Stadium in the South African city of Johannesburg.
In a similar vein, 1º de Agosto lost 1-2 to Otôho Oyo of Congo Brazzaville on Sunday at the same stadium. The striker Dago scored for 1º de Agosto, while Kaiá scored both goals for the opponent.
The return leg is also scheduled for the 28th in Brazzaville.
