Stellies suffers defeat as Africa takes its toll
|Published
Stellenbosch (0) 1
Butsaka 87
RS Berkane (2) 3
Zghoudi 5, 10; Hajii 83
Stellenbosch suffered back-to-back defeats in the CAF Confederation Cup as they went down to RS Berkane at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.
Stellies are yet to pick up point in the group stages after two matches and are at the bottom of their group. With the Moroccan side possessing a strong physical presence, it was always going to be difficult for Stellies to contain them, and it therefore was no surprise when they took an early lead via a cross.
The Stellenbosch defence fell asleep as Youssef Mehri provided attacking ball towards the penalty area, which was subsequently guided by Youssef Zghoudi into the bottom corner of Sage Stephens’ goal in the fifth minute. Ten minutes later and things went from bad to worse for Stellies, as the visitors doubled their lead through a similar play.
It was that man Zghoudi again, who scored his brace, as he sneaked in at the far post to flick in an Ayoub Khairi free-kick, Berkane streaking away to victory early. The result was put to bed in the latter stages of the match as Reda Haji came off the bench to compound Stellies’ misery with a wonder strike from outside the box in the 83rd minute.
Stellies managed to get themselves on the scoresheet with a late consolation goal, second half substitute Chumani Butsaka finishing a well-worked move from inside the box.
Having lost their opening group stage match away in Mali last time out, pressure was on Stellies to put points on the board with a home fixture this time around.
With a full week of preparations under their belt and still flying high off a domestic win over Orlando Pirates, the expectations around Stellies were sizable ahead of this encounter. Berkane also came into this game also high on confidence, having lead already built a healthy lead at the top of the Botola 1 League in Morocco.
With hopes of possibility dominating the midfield, Stellies head coach Steve Barker fielded four recognised central midfielders, while Ashley Cupido continued to lead the line due to the long term absence of Bradley Mojela. The opening stanza was a largely disappointing one for the hosts, as they struggled to break down the former two-time champions.
The North Africans showed supreme tactical discipline on-and-off-the-ball as they constricted the pitch when trying to protect their lead but overwhelmed Stellies on the counter-attack.
Needing a different dynamic at half-time, Barker surprisingly withdrew forward Cupido for the speed of Sanele Barns and that seemed to raise the tempo and their chances of getting back into the game. With the later introductions of Chumani Butshaka and Langelihle Phili, Stellies looked to turn their second half momentum into clearer goal scoring chances but were killed off by Hajii’s strike.
Next on Stellenbosch’s agenda will be a trip to Angola for their third CAF Confederation Cup fixture against CD Lunda on Saturday.