A.C. Olympiakos draw with Power F/C
Eastern Region soccer league on hold
VALCO Sports - Aggrey Memmorial, Tadisco for final
CAF Champs League - Goal-shy Sundowns seek new dawn
Sekondi (Western Region) 02 November 2001 - A.C. Olympiakos and Power FC settled for a goal-less drawn game in their national sub-middle league match played at the Sekondi Gyandu Park on Wednesday.
Power FC dominated the greater portion of the game but missed all of their chances to find the net. Superb goal keeping by Olympiakos' Samuel Adjetey saved his side from conceding a goal.
The high tension game saw Mike Suwornu of Power FC being shown the red card midway in the first half for rough play while Olympiakos' Joseph Sowah was also given the marching off orders early in the second half for the same offence.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 02 November 2001 - All Eastern Region Second Division Soccer matches scheduled for November 4 and 11 this year had been suspended till further notice.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Regional Football Association in Koforidua on Friday. According to the statement, the postponement was to enable the Association to clear all outstanding matches as well as protests before its Disciplinary Committee.
The statement said all clubs in the four zones of the region have one match each to play to complete the league except those in Southern Sector Zone Two who have two matches. The release advised team managers of clubs in the region to get in touch with the regional secretariat for any further clarification on the postponement.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 November 2001 - Aggrey Memorial Zion Secondary School of Cape Coast and Takoradi Secondary School are through to the finals of the Fourth Valco Soccer Tournament for Senior Secondary Schools on Friday.
In the semi-final matches decided at the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday, Aggrey defeated Tamale Secondary School (Tamasco) by a lone goal while Takoradi Secondary School beat Bolgatanga Secondary School (Big Boss) by the same margin.
Aggrey sailed through after being put under severe pressure by the Tamale boys who failed to make good use of the numerous chances they created and paid the price for their goal shyness when skipper Richard Pobee scored against the run of play to book a final place for his school.
Emmanuel Nenyin Akwei scored the winner for Tadisco in the 75th minute when he capitalised on a defensive blunder to slam in a left footer after a counter offensive. Tamasco will meet Bolga in the losers final, which will precede the grand finale between Thursday's winners.
The overall winner takes home five million cedis while the first runner up gets four million cedis, the second runner up collects three million cedis and the fourth school wins two million cedis.
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Johannesburg (South Africa) 02 November 2001 - South African club Mamelodi Sundowns need to put a goal drought behind them if they are to establish a good lead in the first leg of their African Champions League semi-final against Angola's Petro Atletico on Saturday.
Just two goals in six matches in their Champions League group matches has pointed to a serious problem for Sundowns, but coach Ted Dumitru is predicting the problem will be solved as they seek to reach the final of Africa's top club competition for the first time.
Sundowns host their Angolan opponents at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria with the return in Luanda on November 18. On Sunday night, pre-tournament favourites Esperance of Tunisia are away at Al Ahli of Egypt in Cairo in the other semi-final, first leg tie.
Their return match is in Tunis on November 17.
Sundowns sold their key forward, Nigeria international Raphael Chukwu, to Italian club Bari in the off-season and have looked weak in front of goal since. Carlo Scott has scored just once since being bought from Ajax Cape Town last December while the club's leading goalscorer, 34-year-old veteran Daniel Mudau, is also finding goals hard to come by.
Sundowns recently signed under-23 international Simba Marumo, once on the books of Inter Milan and loaned out by the Italian club to teams in Bulgaria in recent seasons. Marumo scored one of Sundowns' two goals in group A of the Champions League, where the club played three goalless draws in six games, but is also guilty of squandering key chances in subsequent games.
"We still have a problem up front with Marumo and Scott because they are new to each other and the line-up," Dumitru said. "But there is improvement and with time everything will be okay.
"We've played some extremely difficult matches, but we are coming to a point where the team is gelling well." Sundowns endured a goalless draw in the South African premier league last Sunday to keep up their winless record at the start of the new domestic season, where they have played just five games because of their commitments in the Champions League.
Petro Atletico won their last three away matches in the Champions League, relying on a strong defence and quick counter attacks. Their 20-year-old Angola international Flavio is the leading scorer in the Champions League this year.
Esperance will have three veterans back in their side for Sunday's game at Al Ahli, which has the potential to be another bruising derby between clubs from the long-standing north African rivals. Brazilian import Adailton and the Tunisia international midfield duo of Maher Kanzari and Sirajeddine Chihi are back in the squad that travels to Cairo.
The match will contrast the considerable experience of the Esperance team, who were runners-up in the last two Champions League finals, with the youthful Al Ahli, still in something of a rebuilding process. The Champions League final will be played over two legs in December.
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